TABLE 3.

Physicians’ Perceptions of How Much Factors Contribute to Requests to Spread Out the Vaccination Schedule by Specialty (N = 453)

	Family Medicine, %	Pediatricians, %	P
Concern that their child will suffer long-term complications from vaccines			.0001
A lot	48	63
Some	30	28
A little/not at all	22	10
General worries about vaccines without a specific concern			.0001
A lot	36	47
Some	35	39
A little/not at all	29	14
Belief that their child is unlikely to get a vaccine-preventable disease			.0009
A lot	33	48
Some	33	31
A little/not at all	34	22
Concern that their child will suffer immediate, short-term effects (such as fever, pain or excessive crying) from vaccines			.44
A lot	44	37
Some	28	34
A little/not at all	28	29
Parental concern that their child could develop autism as a result of vaccination			<.0001
A lot	27	42
Some	34	42
A little/not at all	39	16
The belief that they should play a central role in medical decisions for their child			.50
A lot	37	32
Some	30	33
A little/not at all	33	35
Concern that vaccines will weaken their child’s immune system			<.0001
A lot	17	39
Some	32	37
A little/not at all	51	24
A friend or relative’s positive experience with an “alternative schedule”			<.0001
A lot	15	33
Some	39	44
A little/not at all	45	23
Parental desire to decrease the pain associated with multiple injections			.04
A lot	33	20
Some	28	36
A little/not at all	39	44
Parental concern about possible ill effects of thimerosal			.52
A lot	19	23
Some	44	41
A little/not at all	38	36
Belief that vaccine-preventable diseases are not severe enough to warrant vaccination			.06
A lot	14	22
Some	36	36
A little/not at all	50	42
Belief that vaccines are not effective			.55
A lot	5	4
Some	25	24
A little/not at all	70	72

All tests are Mantel-Haenszel χ².