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. 2021 Oct 22;18(21):11113.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111113.

Race, Ethnicity, Nativity and Perceptions of Health Risk during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US

Thomas Jamieson  1 , Dakota Caldwell  1 , Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga  1 , Cristián Doña-Reveco  2
Affiliations

Race, Ethnicity, Nativity and Perceptions of Health Risk during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US

Thomas Jamieson et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Previous research demonstrates that pandemics, including COVID-19, have disproportionate effects on communities of color, further exacerbating existing healthcare inequities. While increasing evidence points to the greater threat posed by COVID-19 to Latinx communities, less remains known about how identification as Latinx and migration status influence their perception of risk and harm. In this article, we use cross-sectional data from a large national probability sample to demonstrate a large positive association between ethnic identity and migration status and perceptions of harm from COVID-19 in the US. We find that individuals identifying as Hispanic/Latinx and first-generation immigrants report significantly greater risks of becoming infected by COVID-19 in the next three months, and dying from the virus if they do contract it. Further, subgroup analysis reveals that health risks are especially felt by individuals of Mexican descent, who represent the largest share of US Latinxs. Collectively, our results provide evidence about how the pandemic places increased stress on people from Latinx and immigrant communities relative to White non-Hispanic individuals in the US.

Keywords: COVID-19; ethnicity; health risk; immigration; race; survey research.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

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