Factors Associated with Machismo Among Medical Students in Eight Cities in Five Latin American Countries

Introduction and objectives: Machismo is a deeply rooted problem in Latin American society, but this has not been measured in the context of future health professionals. The objective was to identify factors associated with machismo among medical students from eight cities in five Latin American countries. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional multicentre study was conducted. A total of 2,468 students of human medicine in five Latin American countries were surveyed. Machismo was measured with a validated scale (α = 0.89) and cross-checked against other important social and educational variables. Analytical statistics were derived from generalised linear models. Results: According to the multivariate analysis, machismo occurred at the highest rate among men (prevalence ratio [PR] 1.68; 95% CI 1.29-2.21; p < 0.001) and at an older age (PR 1.02; 95% CI 1.01-1.02; p < 0.001), whereas it occurred at lower rates at a higher level of academic study (PR 0.96; 95% CI 0.91-0.99; p = 0.043) and among those who claimed to belong to an evangelical religion (PR 0.86; 95% CI 0.76-0.98; p = 0.022). Compared to students from Asunción, those from Bogotá had a higher rate of machismo adjusted for three variables (PR 1.26; 95% CI, 1.19-1.34; p < 0.001) than those from Quito (PR 1.14; 95% CI, 1.06-1.22; p < 0.001), those from Panama City (PR 1.19; 95% CI, 1.16-1.21; p < 0.001), those from Ciudad del Este (PR 1.50; 95% CI, 1.34-1.68; p < 0.001), those from Mérida (PR 1.42; 95% CI, 1.37-1.49; p < 0.001) and those from Carabobo (PR 1.60; 95% CI, 1.52-1.68; p < 0.001); however, those from Bolívar had less machismo (PR 0.58; 95% CI, 0.51-0.66; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Factors significantly associated with machismo were found among medical the students studied; the most important ones were sex, age, academic year, religion and country of residence.