The Cultural Influence of Familismo in Prompting Vaccination Against COVID-19 Among U.S. Latina/o/x Border Residents

ABSTRACT

This study centers on familismo as a relevant cultural construct that adds a U.S. Latina/o/x perspective to the Health Belief Model. Employing a qualitative lens, we use in-depth semi-structured focus groups and interviews with participants living, working, and attending school in a mid-size city on the U.S./Mexico border on the decision to take the COVID-19 vaccine. We find that, for many members of these communities, getting vaccinated is seen as a way to protect not only oneself but also one’s family, especially those with chronic health conditions, reflecting an obligation to prioritize the collective over the individual. We highlight various approaches that families take to discuss COVID-19 vaccines, ranging from women coordinating vaccination to a non-confrontational approach to the unvaccinated. The borderlands as a place also showcase the diversity of the U.S. Latina/o/x experience during the pandemic, since the perceived disparities of vaccine access in Mexico also seemed to cue the decision to get vaccinated. We propose this helps explain the exceptionally high vaccination rate in the city under study and seen in several other border communities. By illuminating how familial ties impact health communication surrounding this important issue, this study adds an expanded Latina/o/x cultural context for aspects of the Health Belief Model such as perceived severity and susceptibility.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Fully vaccinated people are defined as those who have taken all doses in a primary series as stated by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2023b).

2. We use several Spanish terms in this study: familismo (family-orientation), obligación (obligation), aguantarismo (enduring and persevering, suffering without asking for help), respeto (respect), confianza (trust), personalismo (friendliness), simpatía (kindness).

3. Federal Pell Grants usually are awarded only to undergraduate students who display exceptional financial need.

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge support from the TAMIU Advancing Research and Curriculum Initiative (TAMIU ARC) awarded by the US Department of Education Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (Award #P031S190304) and a University Research Grant.