Ethnic Differences in Predictors of HPV Vaccination: Comparisons of Predictors for Latina and Non-Latina White Women

• Published in: The Journal of sex research Vol. 50; no. 8; pp. 748 - 756
• Main Authors: Reimer, Rachel A., Houlihan, Amy E., Gerrard, Meg, Deer, Melissa M., Lund, Andrea J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis Group 01-11-2013; Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Cultural differences; Ethnicity; European Continental Ancestry Group - ethnology; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Hispanic Americans - ethnology; Hispanic Americans - psychology; Human papillomavirus; Human papillomaviruses; Humans; Immunization; Iowa - ethnology; Latin American people; Mass Vaccination - ethnology; Mass Vaccination - psychology; Mass Vaccination - statistics & numerical data; Mother-Child Relations - ethnology; Mother-Child Relations - psychology; Norms; Papillomavirus Vaccines - therapeutic use; Sexual behavior; Sexual Behavior - ethnology; Sexual Behavior - psychology; Vaccines; Women; Womens health; Young Adult; Iowa
• ISSN: 0022-4499; 1559-8519
• DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2012.692406

The purpose of this study was to examine how social and behavioral factors such as age of first intercourse, mother-daughter communication, and perceived norms are associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination behaviors, and whether ethnicity moderates those associations (non-Latina White versus Latina participants). From June through December 2009, we surveyed a community sample of 309 White and Latina women, ages 15 to 30. We recruited participants from local health care clinics in Des Moines, Iowa. Vaccination status was not significantly different for Whites versus Latinas. The effects of age at first intercourse, mother-daughter communication about values related to sex, and descriptive norms of HPV vaccine uptake were all significantly moderated by ethnicity. The current findings reveal that sociocultural and behavioral factors that affect HPV vaccine uptake do not affect White and Latina women in the same fashion. In the future, public health campaigns about HPV and the HPV vaccine may be more effective if their messages are sensitive to these differences.