Janice Raup-Krieger, assistant professor, communication, is the lead author of a new study on the influence a mother has on her daughter's decision to receive the HPV vaccine.

Even after young women reach adulthood, their mothers can play a key role in convincing them to receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, new research suggests.

A study found that college-aged women were more likely to say they had received the HPV vaccine if they had talked to their mother about it.

“Mothers talking to their daughters were an important factor in whether young women were vaccinated,” said Janice Krieger, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University.  “It is an encouraging finding, because it shows that communication between mothers and daughters can be very helpful, even if it may be difficult sometimes.”

The study appears in the January 2011 issue of the journal Human Communication Research.

The findings don’t show what was discussed about the HPV vaccine, but Krieger suspects that the cost of the vaccine may be one topic, since costs have been reported to range from $360 to $600 for the 3-shot series. This is one reason why it is important to get mothers involved, even after their daughters reach adulthood.

Read the full press release from the Ohio State Office of Research Communications: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/vaccinehpv.htm