Asian Americans and Obesity in California: a Protective Effect of Biculturalism

Overview

Journal J Immigr Minor Health

Publisher Springer

Specialties Public Health
Social Sciences

Date 2010 Dec 15

PMID 21153765

Citations 20

Authors

Sophia Wang

Judy Quan

Alka M Kanaya

Alicia Fernandez

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Prior studies comparing US-born and foreign-born Asian Americans have shown that birth in the US conveys greater risk of obesity. Our study investigates whether retention of Asian culture might be protective for obesity despite acculturation to US lifestyle. We classified self-identified Asian American respondents of the California Health Interview Survey as traditional, bicultural, and acculturated using nativity and language proficiency in English and Asian language. We then examined the association of acculturation with overweight/obesity (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²) in a multivariate regression model. Acculturated respondents had higher adjusted odds of being overweight/obese than bicultural respondents (2.13 [1.40-3.23] for men, 3.28 [2.14-5.04] for women), but bicultural respondents had similar odds of being overweight/obese as traditional respondents (.98 [.69-1.41] for men, .72 [.50-1.05] for women). Among the bicultural, second and first generation respondents were equally likely to be overweight/obese. Biculturalism in Asian Americans as measured by Asian language retention appears protective against obesity. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying this association.

Citing Articles

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The Association Between Acculturation and Parental Feeding Practices in Families With Overweight and Obese Hispanic/Latino Children.

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