Perceptions of cancer controllability and cancer risk knowledge: the moderating role of race, ethnicity, and acculturation.
Literature suggests racial/ethnic minorities, particularly those who are less-acculturated, have stronger fatalistic attitudes toward cancer than do non-Latino Whites. Knowledge of cancer prevention is also lower among racial/ethnic minorities. Moreover, low knowledge about cancer risk factors is often associated with fatalistic beliefs. Our study examined fatalism and cancer knowledge by race/ethnicity and explored whether race/ethnicity moderate the association of fatalism with knowledge of cancer prevention and risk factors. We analyzed data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (2008), a national probability survey, to calculate population estimates of the associations among race/ethnicity, fatalistic beliefs, and knowledge about cancer from multivariable logistic regression. Racial/ethnic minorities had higher odds of holding fatalistic beliefs and lower odds of having knowledge of cancer risk factors than non-Hispanic Whites, and important differences by acculturation among Latinos were observed. Limited evidence of the moderating effect of race/ethnicity on the relationship between fatalistic beliefs and cancer risk factor knowledge was observed. Knowledge of cancer risk factors is low among all race/ethnicities, while fatalistic beliefs about cancer are higher among racial/ethnic minorities compared with non-Hispanic Whites. Implications for cancer education efforts are discussed.
National Cancer Institute, 6130 Executive Blvd. Suite 4051A, MSC 7150, Rockville, MD, 20892-7105, USA. ramirezas@mail.nih.gov
A Susana
AS
Ramírez
Lila J Finney
LJ
Rutten
April
A
Oh
Bryan Leyva
BL
Vengoechea
Richard P
RP
Moser
Robin C
RC
Vanderpool
Bradford W
BW
Hesse
D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003469:Culture; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000208:ethnology; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D006266:Health Education / Q000941:ethics; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D020377:Self Efficacy; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult