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HPV vaccine status and sexual behavior among young sexually-active women in the US: evidence from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2007–2014

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2019

Andrew J. Leidner Open the ORCID record for Andrew J. Leidner [Opens in a new window] ,
Harrell W. Chesson  and
Makram Talih
Andrew J. Leidner*
Affiliation:
Health Economist/Berry Technology Solutions, Federal contractor for Immunization Services Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, MS A-19, Atlanta, GA30333, USA
Harrell W. Chesson
Affiliation:
Division of STD Prevention, National Center HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA30333, USA
Makram Talih
Affiliation:
University of Porto Institute of Public Health, Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600Porto, Portugal
*
*Correspondence to: aleidner@cdc.gov
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Abstract

Concern has been expressed that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programs might promote risky sexual behavior through mechanisms such as risk compensation, behavioral disinhibition, or perceived endorsement of sexual activity. This study assesses whether HPV vaccination status is associated with any differences in selected sexual behaviors among young sexually-active women in the US. Our dataset includes young, adult female respondents from questionnaire data collected in the National Center for Health Statistics' National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2014. The empirical approach implements a doubly robust estimation procedure, based on inverse probability of treatment weighting. For robustness, we implement several specifications for the propensity model and the outcomes model. We find no consistent association between HPV vaccination and condom usage or frequency of sex. Specifically, we find no evidence that HPV vaccination is associated with condom usage or with whether a person had sex more than 52 or more than 104 times per year. We find inconsistent evidence that HPV vaccination is associated with a person having sex more than 12 times per year. As in previous research, HPV vaccination does not appear to have a substantive effect on sexual behavior among young sexually-active women in the US.

Keywords

Condom usagefrequency of sexhealth riskHPV vaccinerisk perceptionsexual behavior

JEL classification

I10: General I12: Health Behavior D81: Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty D80: General D83: Search • Learning • Information and Knowledge • Communication • Belief • Unawareness

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Type
Articles
Information
Health Economics, Policy and Law , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , October 2020 , pp. 477 - 495
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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