Knowledge of human papillomavirus infection and its prevention among adolescents and parents in the greater Milan area, Northern Italy

Table 5 Associations between selected socio-demographic factors, personal beliefs and attitudes of parents to vaccinating their children against HPV.

	In favour of HPV vaccination (n = 1438)		Against or doubtful about HPV vaccination (n = 706)		OR (95% CI) ²
	No.	%	No.	%
Age of parent (years)
<40	80	5.6	37	5.2	1 (reference)
40-44	319	22.2	172	24.4	0.85 (0.54-1.31)
45-49	565	39.3	265	37.5	1.04 (0.67-1.60)
≥50	474	33.0	232	32.9	1.05 (0.68-1.64)
Education
Middle school diploma	254	17.7	122	17.3	1 (reference)
High school diploma	616	42.8	280	39.7	1.04 (0.80-1.35)
Degree	568	39.5	304	43.1	0.91 (0.69-1.19)
Parent
Father	658	45.8	347	49.1	1 (reference)
Mother	780	54.2	359	50.8	1.17 (0.97-1.42)
Religion
Catholic	1314	91.4	608	86.1	1 (reference)
Other/no religion	124	8.6	98	13.9	0.61 (0.46-0.82)
Age of (youngest) child involved in the study (years)
<12	164	11.4	82	11.6	1 (reference)
12-14	434	30.2	218	30.9	1.04 (0.76-1.43)
≥15	840	58.4	406	57.5	0.93 (0.69-1.26)
Gender of child(ren) involved in the study
Male(s) only	336	23.4	255	36.1	1 (reference)
At least one daughter	1102	76.6	451	63.9	1.88 (1.53-2.30)
Generally in favour of vaccinations ³
No	17	1.2	139	20.0	1 (reference)
Yes	1416	98.8	555	80.0	23.1 (13.7-38.8)
Knows that HPV vaccine is aimed at preventing cervical cancer ³
No/Does not know	107	8.3	91	17.0	1 (reference)
Yes	1179	91.7	444	83.0	2.31 (1.69-3.16)
Thinks that HPV might concern own child(ren) ³
No/Does not know	487	34.0	449	64.0	1 (reference)
Yes	946	66.0	253	36.0	3.52 (2.89-4.29)

CI, confidence interval; OR = odds ratio. ¹ The numbers of subjects are not the same as in Table 4 because those with missing information relating to one or more of the socio-demographic covariates in the models (n = 187; 8% of the total) were excluded. ² ORs from multivariate logistic regression models, adjusted for age, education, gender and religion of parent, and age and gender of the child. ³ The numbers do not add up to the total because of missing answers.

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