Factors associated with the perception of resentment towards the Chinese in Latin America during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

BMC Public Health. 2024 Nov 20;24(1):3226. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20568-9.

Abstract

Introduction: Resentment towards the Chinese population was perceived during the first months of the pandemic because the pandemic/disease started in that country.

Objective: To determine the factors associated with the perception of resentment towards the Chinese in Latin America during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methodology: Analytical cross-sectional study conducted during the second semester of the pandemic in more than a dozen countries. Four questions were asked about the perception of resentment towards the Chinese (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.88); those with the highest scores on the sum of the four questions were considered to have "more resentment towards the Chinese," and descriptive and analytical statistics were obtained.

Results: Of the 7721 respondents, in the multivariate analysis, it was found that there was a difference according to the country; compared to Peru, those who had more resentment towards the Chinese were those residing in Paraguay (aPR: 1.29; 95%CI: 1.17-1.42; p-value < 0.001) and Bolivia (aPR: 1.52; 95%CI: 1.37-1.68; p-value < 0.001), while Chile (aPR: 0.78; 95%CI: 0.69-0.88; p-value < 0.001) had less resentment: 0.69-0.88; p-value < 0.001), Mexico (aPR: 0.68; 95%CI: 0.57-0.80; p-value < 0.001), Panama (aPR: 0.71; 95%CI: 0.59-0.86; p-value < 0.001) and Costa Rica (aPR: 0.64; 95%CI: 0.49-0.85; p-value = 0.002).

Discussion: There was a significant difference in resentment for each country.

Keywords: COVID-19; Chinese population; Discrimination; Latin America; Resentment.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • COVID-19* / psychology
  • China
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • East Asian People
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Latin America / epidemiology
  • Loneliness / psychology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pandemics
  • Social Discrimination*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult