Health Risk Behaviors, Diet and Exercise, and Chronic Conditions of Koreans: Transnational Perspectives

Background. With a history of over 100 years, Korean immigration to U.S. experiences a rapid growth from mere 11,171 Korean immigrants in 1960 to 1.4 million Koreans living in U.S. in 2005. Nearly seven out of ten Korean immigrants were born outside of US, and Korean immigrants are the seventh largest foreign-born group. The fact that close to a half of Koreans entered US since 1990 implies a significant portion of Koreans in US are new and foreign-born immigrants. This transnational mobility increases the need for understandings of whether and how health behaviors and conditions change for the same ethnic group in different countries.

Objective. This study will examine health risk behaviors, diet and exercise, and chronic conditions among Koreans living in Korea and Korean Americans living in California.

Methods. Two probability-based sample surveys will be used: the first comes from Community Health Survey 2008 conducted by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with a sample size of over 210,000 adults in Korea; and the second California Health Interview Survey 2007 conducted by UCLA Center for Health Policy Research which includes 681 Korean American adults living in California, where over 30% of the Korean American population resides. Both data sets provide geographically representative samples.

Anticipated Findings. Systematic comparisons of the two Korean groups as well as examinations on Korean Americans by their immigration generation status are expected to shed light on understanding anthropological and ecological effects on health risk factors and health status of the transnational Korean population.