Sociodemographic Predictors of Vaccination Exemptions on the Basis of Personal Belief in California

We examined the variability in the percentage of students with personal belief exemptions (PBEs) from mandatory vaccinations in California schools and communities according to income, education, race, and school characteristics. We used spatial lag models to analyze 2007-2013 PBE data from the Calif...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2016-01, Vol.106 (1), p.172-177
Main Authors: Yang, Y Tony, Delamater, Paul L, Leslie, Timothy F, Mello, Michelle M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic degrees
AJPH Research
California
Censuses
Child
Culture
Education
Educational attainment
Enrollments
Exemptions
Family income
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Immunization
Immunization/Vaccines
Measles
Parents & parenting
Population
Private schools
Public health
Regions
Religion
Religion and Medicine
School districts
Schools - statistics & numerical data
Sociodemographics
Socioeconomic Factors
Software
Students
Students - psychology
Studies
Vaccination - legislation & jurisprudence
Vaccination - psychology
Vaccination - statistics & numerical data
Vaccines
Variables
White people
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We examined the variability in the percentage of students with personal belief exemptions (PBEs) from mandatory vaccinations in California schools and communities according to income, education, race, and school characteristics. We used spatial lag models to analyze 2007-2013 PBE data from the California Department of Public Health. The analyses included school- and regional-level models, and separately examined the percentage of students with exemptions in 2013 and the change in percentages over time. The percentage of students with PBEs doubled from 2007 to 2013, from 1.54% to 3.06%. Across all models, higher median household income and higher percentage of White race in the population, but not educational attainment, significantly predicted higher percentages of students with PBEs in 2013. Higher income, White population, and private school type significantly predicted greater increases in exemptions from 2007 to 2013, whereas higher educational attainment was associated with smaller increases. Personal belief exemptions are more common in areas with a higher percentage of White race and higher income.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302926