Association of Acculturation and Latino Parents’ Oral Health Beliefs and Knowledge

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to explore the association of acculturation and Latino parent behavioral and psychosocial characteristics. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 197 parent-children triads. Participating parents completed survey questions encompassing oral health knowledge, behaviors and beliefs from a validated oral health instrument. The mean score for acculturation in this sample was 3.8, where acculturation was dichotomized to a categorical variable. The bivariate associations between the independent variables (caregiver psychosocial factors and socio-economic factors (SES) factors) and acculturation (more/less acculturated) were conducted using logistic regression analysis, and for the final model a multivariate logistic regression model was used. In the bivariate analyses, less acculturated parents reported lower oral health knowledge (p = 0.02), higher social support (p = 0.028) and chronic stress (p = 0.015) and lower perceived susceptibility to dental caries in their children (p = 0.039). The bivariate analysis demonstrated that less acculturated parents had less education and employment (p < 0.0001) than more acculturated parents. The multivariate logistic model demonstrated that social support (p = 0.028), chronic stress (p = 0.015) and health beliefs as barriers to access dental care (p = 0.039) were higher in less acculturated parents compared to more acculturated parents. Less acculturated parents demonstrated lower oral health knowledge, higher stress and more barriers to accessing oral health care for their children. Oral health interventions for Latino families should incorporate strategies that include consideration of parental oral health beliefs.