{"doi":"10.1371/journal.pone.0305877","title":"Psychosocial correlates of parents’ willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19","abstract":"BACKGROUND: Public health guidance recommended that children who are 6 months or older be vaccinated against COVID-19 in June of 2022. In the U.S., 56% of children under 17 had not received the COVID-19 vaccination in 2023. We examine parents' willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 using the theory of planned behavior in order to design effective strategies to promote vaccine uptake. METHODS: The Philadelphia Community Engagement Alliance is part of an NIH community-engaged consortium focused on addressing COVID-19 disparities across the U.S. We surveyed 1,008 Philadelphia parents (mean age 36.86, SD 6.55; 42.3% racial/ethnic minorities) between September 2021 and February 2022, a period when guidance for child vaccination was anticipated. Structural Equation Modeling analysis examined associations between parental willingness and vaccine-related attitudes, norms, and perceived control. Covariates included parents' COVID-19 vaccination status, race/ethnicity, gender, and survey completion post-CDC pediatric COVID-19 vaccination guidelines. Subgroup analyses by race/ethnicity and gender were conducted. RESULTS: Our model demonstrated good fit (χ2 = 907.37, df = 419, p<0.001; comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.951; non-normed fit index [NNFI] = 0.946; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.034 with 95% CI = 0.030-0.038). Attitudes ([Formula: see text] = 0.447, p<0.001) and subjective norms ([Formula: see text] = 0.309, p = 0.002) were predictors of intention. Racial/ethnic minority parents exhibited weaker vaccination intentions ([Formula: see text] = -0.053, p = 0.028) than non-Hispanic White parents. CONCLUSIONS: Parents' attitudes and norms influence their vaccination intentions. Despite the survey predating widespread child vaccine availability, findings are pertinent given the need to increase and sustain pediatric vaccinations against COVID-19. Interventions promoting positive vaccine attitudes and prosocial norms are warranted. Tailored interventions and diverse communication strategies for parental subgroups may be useful to ensure comprehensive and effective vaccination initiatives.","journal":"PLoS ONE","year":2024,"id":465786,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":4,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9531,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":495563,"name":"Stephen Bonett","orcid":"0000-0002-7608-3741","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1265274,"name":"Ufuoma Oyiborhoro","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":772645,"name":"Subhash Aryal","orcid":"0000-0002-8300-1484","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":673919,"name":"Andrew Kim","orcid":"0000-0001-6037-0183","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":795992,"name":"Melanie L. Kornides","orcid":"0000-0003-1900-4530","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":741959,"name":"John B. Jemmott","orcid":"0000-0003-2831-8240","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":542636,"name":"Karen Glanz","orcid":"0000-0002-0970-4931","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":622929,"name":"Antonia M. Villarruel","orcid":"0000-0002-2367-5786","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":382514,"name":"José A. Bauermeister","orcid":"0000-0002-9276-2306","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1264794,"name":"Hyunmin Yu","orcid":"0000-0002-6770-0808","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":63,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:04:50.328230Z","pmid":"38913679","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}