Browsing by Author "Wilkins, Kiana kristine"

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    Intersectional Immunity? Examining How Race/Ethnicity and Sexual Orientation Combine to Shape Influenza Vaccination among US Adults.
    (2022-02-23) Wilkins, Kiana kristine; Gorman, Bridget K
    Influenza vaccination is a critical preventive healthcare behavior designed to prevent spread of the seasonal flu. In this paper, I contribute to existing scholarship by applying an intersectional perspective to examine how influenza vaccination, a crucial preventive health behavior, differs across the specific intersections of racial/ethnic and sexual identity. My analysis begins with logistic regression model among the pooled sample (all 18 racial/ethnic and sexual orientation groups), and following I run models stratified first by sexual orientation, and then by racial/ethnic identity, to further examine patterns of flu vaccination across the intersections of sexual and racial/ethnic identity. Drawing on aggregated state-level data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from 2011-2018, findings from pooled models three key findings emerge. First, findings both confirm previous understandings of influenza vaccination (e.g., lower vaccination among black adults, relative to whites, but found only among heterosexuals; gays/lesbians reporting higher vaccination relative to heterosexuals for certain groups; bisexuals having lower vaccination status in select racial ethnic groups), second, my findings also challenge these previous vaccination patterns (e.g. Asian bisexuals vaccinating more than both heterosexuals and gays/lesbians, and certain racial/ethnic gays/lesbians having a disadvantage in influenza vaccination), and third, results pinpoint most vulnerable intersectional groups in need of influenza vaccination outreach.