Is It Mum or the Dad? Parental Factors That Influence the Use and Acceptance of Fluoride Varnish among Parents in Eastern Saudi Arabia

Table 2

Factors that influence parents’ knowledge about fluoride varnish (N = 623).

Variables	Responses	Knowledge score category (%)		P value
		Poor knowledge n = 393	Good knowledge n = 230
Gender	Male	30.3%	20.0%	0.003
	Female	69.7%	80.0%
Mother’s age	Under 25 years	8.9%	5.2%	0.168
	25–30 years	12.7%	14.8%
	31–40 years	20.6%	27.0%
	41–50 years	34.9%	33.5%
	Over 50 years	22.9%	19.6%
Father’s age	Under 25 years	0.3%	0.9%	0.004
	25–30 years	6.9%	5.2%
	31–40 years	18.6%	22.6%
	41–50 years	23.4%	34.3%
	Over 50 years	50.9%	37.0%
Nationality	Saudi	94.4%	95.2%	0.406
	Non-Saudi	5.6%	4.8%
Mother’s educational level	Uneducated	10.4%	5.2%	0.001
	School diploma	43.0%	29.6%
	University education and above	46.6%	65.2%
Father’s educational level	Uneducated	7.4%	3.5%	0.025
	School diploma	43.5%	37.8%
	University education and above	49.1%	58.7%
Family’s income	Low-income level (≥5000 riyals per month)	12.5%	7.8%	0.006
	Middle income (lower middle and upper middle from 5000 to 20,000 riyals per month)	53.9%	52.2%
	High income (more than 20,000 riyals per month)	18.8%	29.6%
	Not sure	14.8%	10.4%
Parents work in the medical field	Yes	8.9%	23.0%	0.001
	No	91.1%	77.0%
Number of children	One child	15.8%	11.3%	0.253
	Two or three children	25.2%	28.7%
	More than three children	59.0%	60.0%
Source of knowledge	Social media	12.2%	11.3%	0.001
	Internet	2.3%	7.4%
	Dentist	8.4%	48.7%
	Friends	4.8%	9.1%
	No knowledge	72.3%	23.5%