Original articleParent and Peer Norms are Unique Correlates of COVID-19 Vaccine Intentions in a Diverse Sample of U.S. Adolescents
Section snippets
Antecedents of COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions
The HBM [2] and supporting literature [3,4] hold that the most proximal determinants of an individual's uptake of a vaccine include (a) their perceived severity of and susceptibility to the disease, alongside (b) their perceived benefits and/or risks of receiving the vaccine. Adolescents report various perceptions and anxieties regarding the severity of COVID-19 and its impact on their lives, including worries about their health, changes in their peer networks and family dynamics, increased
Participants and procedures
Between 10 June and 24 June 2021, participants were recruited from a third-party research service, Qualtrics, which retains a national database of research participants gathered through various digital advertising channels (e.g., social media, search engines) and address-based sampling methods (e.g., mailing lists). A stratified random sample of adolescents was drawn from this database, using national quotas for adolescent age, gender, parent income, and U.S. geographic region (south, west,
Results
Participants were 916 adolescents from across the United States, ranging in age from 12 to 17 years (Mage = 14.69, standard deviation = 1.69) and representing diverse racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic backgrounds (see Table 1 for sample characteristics; see Table S2 of online supplemental material for vaccination intentions by sample characteristics).
Discussion
Adolescents are now a focus in the COVID-19 vaccination effort, but little is known about the antecedents of their intentions to be vaccinated. We examined attitudinal and interpersonal antecedents of adolescents' intentions to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, including the direct and indirect pathways characterizing these associations. Specifically, we examined the impact and perceived threat of the pandemic, concerns about the vaccine's safety and necessity, and parent and peer norms surrounding
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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.