Measures of Acculturation and Relations to ZBMI Among Mexican-Origin Youth

Overview

Journal J Racial Ethn Health Disparities

Specialties Public Health
Social Sciences

Date 2018 Oct 28

PMID 30367361

Citations 2

Authors

Dorothy McLeod Loren

Amy Bohnert

Catherine DeCarlo Santiago

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Risk for obesity increases for Mexican-origin immigrants and their children upon arrival in the USA. Acculturative factors have been shown to play a role, but the significance and directionality of this relation may differ based on the method used to measure acculturation.

Method: This study examines the cross-sectional relations between several measures of acculturation and child zBMI, as well as the 12-month longitudinal relations between these measures and child BMI (adjusted for age and gender), in a sample of 102 6- to 11-year-old, Mexican-origin youth.

Results: Cross-sectional results indicated that two measures, greater preference for English and higher Anglo Orientation, were positively associated cross-sectionally with higher zBMI (p = 0.002 and p = 0.011, respectively). Only English language preference remained significant in longitudinal analyses (p = 0.047). Parental duration of residence and the child's number of immigrant parents were not significantly associated with zBMI cross-sectionally or BMI longitudinally.

Discussion: These findings suggest that language proxy measures of acculturation present similar findings to multidimensional measures when assessing child weight and support the idea that behavioral or emotional changes that accompany integration into US culture may contribute to obesity development.

Citing Articles

Exploring Potential Mediation Pathways on the Relationship Between Acculturation and Body Mass Index (BMI) Among Latino Adolescents.

Johansen C, Reynolds K, Xie B, Palmer P Hisp Health Care Int. 2021; 20(2):89-97.

PMID: 34291690 PMC: 8782930. DOI: 10.1177/15404153211029893.

Differences in Diet Quality and Snack Intakes Among Non-Hispanic White and Mexican American Adolescents from Different Acculturation Groups.

Bekelman T, Johnson S, Taylor C J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2020; 7(6):1090-1099.

PMID: 32144631 PMC: 7483752. DOI: 10.1007/s40615-020-00732-8.

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