TY - JOUR
T1 - Breastfeeding in Context
T2 - African American Women’s Normative Referents, Salient Identities, and Perceived Social Norms
AU - Villalobos, Aubrey Van Kirk
AU - Davis, Catasha
AU - Turner, Monique Mitchell
AU - Long, Sahira
AU - Hull, Shawnika
AU - Lapinski, Maria Knight
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Society for Public Health Education.
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - The purpose of this study was to describe social norms and salient social identities related to breastfeeding intentions among African American mothers in Washington, D.C. Five focus groups were held with 30 mothers who gave birth to a child between 2016 and 2019. Two coders conducted pragmatic thematic analysis. This study demonstrated that women hold different identities relevant to making infant feeding decisions, with mother being primary and race/ethnicity, age, and relationship status factoring into how they define themselves. Mothers drew their perceptions of what is common and accepted from family, friends, the “Black community,” and what they perceived visually in their geographic area and heard from their health care providers. Mothers believed breastfeeding to be increasing in popularity and acceptability in African American communities in Washington, D.C., but not yet the most common or accepted mode of feeding, with some variability by socioeconomic status group. Implications for public health communication and social marketing are discussed.
AB - The purpose of this study was to describe social norms and salient social identities related to breastfeeding intentions among African American mothers in Washington, D.C. Five focus groups were held with 30 mothers who gave birth to a child between 2016 and 2019. Two coders conducted pragmatic thematic analysis. This study demonstrated that women hold different identities relevant to making infant feeding decisions, with mother being primary and race/ethnicity, age, and relationship status factoring into how they define themselves. Mothers drew their perceptions of what is common and accepted from family, friends, the “Black community,” and what they perceived visually in their geographic area and heard from their health care providers. Mothers believed breastfeeding to be increasing in popularity and acceptability in African American communities in Washington, D.C., but not yet the most common or accepted mode of feeding, with some variability by socioeconomic status group. Implications for public health communication and social marketing are discussed.
KW - breastfeeding
KW - culture
KW - infant feeding
KW - social identity
KW - social norms
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106453093&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85106453093&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/10901981211014445
DO - 10.1177/10901981211014445
M3 - Article
C2 - 34027709
SN - 1090-1981
VL - 48
SP - 496
EP - 506
JO - Health Education and Behavior
JF - Health Education and Behavior
IS - 4
ER -