Hispanic and white women's responses to health disparity information

Abstract

In the United States, the cervical cancer incidence rate is 64% higher among Hispanic women than Non-Hispanic White women (American Cancer Society, 2012). This is one example of a health disparity. Understanding how people react to health disparity information can inform interventions to shape health behaviors and affect policy support. Previous studies that have examined reactions to health disparity information have shown that people had more positive affective responses when progress was mentioned compared to only disparity information. Negative affect was associated with lower behavioral intentions (Landrine & Corral, 2014; Nicholson et al., 2008). When examining reactions to racial/ethnic health disparity information, ethnic identification is an important variable to consider because it has been shown to be associated with less risky behavior (Beadnell et al., 2003). However, stronger ethnic identification can also predict stronger negative reactions to disparity information when a participant’s group is the target of the injustice (Nicholson et al., 2008).