Acculturation, self-efficacy and breastfeeding behaviors in a sample of Hispanic women

Abstract

<p>Breastfeeding confers immunological, physiological and psychological benefits for the infant and mother as well as social and economic benefits to the nation. The United States Department of Health and Human Servcies (HHS), Healthy People 2020 has established national objectives for the initiation and duration of breastfeeding at 82% initiation, 61% at six months and 34% at one year. In addition, they have set goals for exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months to be 46% and 25% at 6 months of infant&rsquo;s age. Currently breastfeeding initiation is at the highest recorded level of 76.9%, yet significant disparities exist (CDC, 2012). The purpose of this study was to examine the association of acculturation and self-efficacy on breastfeeding behavior of a sample of Hispanic women. Initially the plan was to focus on women from Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican countries of origin. However recruitiment goals for only the Mexican population were reached. Two valid and reliable bidimensional instruments were used in addition to collecting contextual information to foster a more comprehensive understanding of the acculturation process. The roles of self-efficacy and social support and their relationship with acculturation measures and breastfeeding behavior was explored. The Non-Hispanic domain subscale of the Bidimensional Acculturation Scale scores were significantly different for those breastfeeding compared to those formula feeding, indicating higher levels of Non-Hispanic domain acculturation associated with not breastfeeding. Acculturation and self efficacy (general and parental) were not found to be related. Breastfeeding outcomes and parental self-efficacy were found to have a significant negative correlation, a finding that was in an unexpected direction, with higher parental self-efficacy associated with decreased breastfeeding intensity.</p>