Utility of the Theory of Planned Behaviour for predicting parents’ intentions to vaccinate their children against COVID-19

Abstract

Vaccination is a crucial form of primary prevention, and it is important to understand the factors that influence parents’ decisions to vaccinate their children. The current study examines the utility of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and anticipated affect for explaining parents’ intentions to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. Parents (N = 843) living in the United States completed an online survey. The TPB variables explained 65% of the variability in parents’ intentions. In addition to all three of the TPB antecedents predicting vaccine intentions, both anticipated regret of not vaccinating and anticipated positive emotions of vaccinating were associated with parent intentions. Contrary to predictions, subjective norms were a stronger predictor of intentions when perceived behavioural control was lower compared to higher. These findings help further our understanding of parent-for-child vaccine decisions in the context of novel health threats and inform intervention efforts aimed at encouraging this behaviour.