Non-intact families and children's vaccination coverage: evidence from Italy

In recent decades, there has been a notable rise in separations and divorces in many Western countries, leading to an increase in children growing up in non-intact families. Despite the extensive literature on social and economic consequences for children living in non-impact families, a noticeable gap exists in understanding how crucial events like separation influence parents’ attitudes towards children's vaccination schedules. This work analyses whether family arrangements affect children's pediatric vaccination in Italy, testing if parents heading non-intact families have a lower propensity to vaccinate their children than those with intact families. Our sample includes 8,455 parents aged 40 and above residing in Italy, surveyed in 2023. Preliminary results show differences in pediatric vaccination rates based on family structure, indicating that children in non-intact families are more likely to receive only mandatory immunisations than those in intact families. To the best of our knowledge, this topic has never been investigated in Italy, a country with a rapidly changing family demography. Exploring determinants of changes in children's vaccination outcomes among non-intact families could be particularly crucial in the realm of public policy, with incomplete vaccination in the pediatric population being identified as a growing public health issue in high-income countries.