Acculturation and health beliefs: Interactions between host and heritage culture underlie Latina/o caregivers' beliefs about HPV vaccination
Location
Moultrie, GA
Start Date
10-5-2021 12:00 AM
End Date
13-5-2021 12:00 AM
Description
Immigrating to another country can have significant effects on people’s health and health behavior. Acculturation, or the extent to which people adopt the beliefs, values, and practices of the country to which they immigrate (i.e., the host or receiving country), plays an important role in this process. One central pathway through which acculturation may affect immigrant health is by altering people’s beliefs about health-related behavior.
Objectives: This study examined the interactive effects of acculturation (host culture acquisition) and enculturation (heritage culture retention) on Latina/o caregivers’ beliefs about their child completing the human papillomavirus vaccine series.
Methods: Participants were 161 caregiver-child dyads from Florida. Using multiple regression, caregiver knowledge and health beliefs (perceived threat, benefits, barriers, subjective norms, and self-efficacy) about series completion were predicted from caregivers’ scores on acculturation, enculturation, and their interaction, controlling for sociodemographics. Acculturation and enculturation interacted to predict knowledge, benefits, barriers, and self-efficacy.
Results: Caregivers with high acculturation scores generally supported series completion, regardless of their enculturation score. However, when acculturation was low, caregivers who retained more (vs. less) of their heritage culture were more knowledgeable and held more favorable beliefs about series completion.
Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of independently assessing acculturation and enculturation in Latina/o immigrant populations. Overlooking enculturation may lead to incomplete conclusions about acculturation and health.
Embargo Period
6-3-2021
Acculturation and health beliefs: Interactions between host and heritage culture underlie Latina/o caregivers' beliefs about HPV vaccination
Moultrie, GA
Immigrating to another country can have significant effects on people’s health and health behavior. Acculturation, or the extent to which people adopt the beliefs, values, and practices of the country to which they immigrate (i.e., the host or receiving country), plays an important role in this process. One central pathway through which acculturation may affect immigrant health is by altering people’s beliefs about health-related behavior.
Objectives: This study examined the interactive effects of acculturation (host culture acquisition) and enculturation (heritage culture retention) on Latina/o caregivers’ beliefs about their child completing the human papillomavirus vaccine series.
Methods: Participants were 161 caregiver-child dyads from Florida. Using multiple regression, caregiver knowledge and health beliefs (perceived threat, benefits, barriers, subjective norms, and self-efficacy) about series completion were predicted from caregivers’ scores on acculturation, enculturation, and their interaction, controlling for sociodemographics. Acculturation and enculturation interacted to predict knowledge, benefits, barriers, and self-efficacy.
Results: Caregivers with high acculturation scores generally supported series completion, regardless of their enculturation score. However, when acculturation was low, caregivers who retained more (vs. less) of their heritage culture were more knowledgeable and held more favorable beliefs about series completion.
Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of independently assessing acculturation and enculturation in Latina/o immigrant populations. Overlooking enculturation may lead to incomplete conclusions about acculturation and health.