Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114575

Ronni Lee Bowen, PhD, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, 323A Rosenau Hall, CB# 7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, 919-966-9557, rbowen@unc.edu, Carol M. Devine, PhD, RD, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-4401, and Peggy Auinger, MS, University of Rochester and the AAP Center for Child Health Research, 1351 Mt. Hope Ave, Suite 130, Rochester, NY 14642.

Acculturation into U.S. mainstream society is associated with poor dietary behaviors and increased overweight among later generation Hispanic girls. Understanding the processes through which acculturation contributes to food choices has great importance for child health. While acculturation has been shown to be multidimensional, most past studies of food choices and acculturation have used one-dimensional acculturation measures. The objective of this study was to use a multidimensional approach to examine acculturative processes influencing food choices in Hispanic girls. A multidimensional model of acculturative processes was developed from emergent findings of a grounded theory study with adolescent Latinas and tested in a multilevel secondary data analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, using a nationally representative sample (n=1,013) of Hispanic girls. A series of successive logistic regression models examined associations between individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics and four dietary outcomes: traditional food consumption, fast food consumption, fruit-, and vegetable-intake. Study results supported a multidimensional conceptualization of the relationship between acculturation and food choices. Though girls' individual cultural orientations (e.g., language, country of origin) were associated with food choices in early models, individual characteristics lost significance in the full models while family and neighborhood characteristics were consistently and significantly (p <.05) associated with dietary outcomes. The results demonstrate how family and environmental contexts contribute to acculturation processes and food choices and can inform the development of culturally sensitive evidence-based health policy and health promotion programs for Hispanic girls. This research was supported by Cornell University and University of Rochester Medical Center.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify family and neighborhood characteristics that contribute to food choices in Hispanic girls.
• Recognize the importance of examining dietary acculturation in multiple contexts.
• Discuss policy implications regarding the built environment and food choices.

Keywords: Food and Nutrition, Hispanic Youth

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.