142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Understanding the acculturative process of Latinos: The intersectionality between acculturation, Latino health, and obesity predictors

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Lisa Aponte-Soto, PhD, MHA , Department of Health Sciences, DePaul University, Chicago, IL
Problem Statement/Relevance: The epidemiologic paradox claims that Latinos are healthier in comparison to their Euro-American counterparts despite being poorer, less educated, and underinsured. However, the paradox has been challenged principally by acculturation, which places Latinos at an elevated risk for overweight/obesity. Puerto Ricans have different acculturative experiences than other Latino subgroups, which may predispose children to overweight/obesity. This study aims to understand the influence of the acculturative process on child-feeding practices, dietary intake, and obesity predictors among Puerto Ricans.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 100 Puerto Rican mother-child pairs. Participants were recruited in 2011 from six preschools in Humboldt Park, Chicago, Illinois. Indicators included: biculturality, child-feeding, dietary intake, BMI and waist circumference (WC). Analyses were performed using the SPSS v.20 and SAS v.9.2.

Results: Maternal acculturation status influenced child-feeding and child dietary intake. Puerto Rican cultural dominance was associated with unhealthy child-feeding practices and diet (e.g., food as reward, pressing to eat and excessive juice and fried potato consumption). Puerto Rican cultural preference significantly predicted child obesity using both BMI and WC. Regression analyses determined that acculturation strengthened the relationship between maternal child-feeding practices and child obesity based on WC alone (OR=4.17 (1.30, 13.41).  

Conclusions: Findings suggest that Puerto Rican cultural practices increase child obesity risk given maternal engagement in health compromising child-feeding practices. Using the biculturality scale in this study contributed to the understanding of the variation of the acculturative process among Puerto Ricans and the effect of acculturation on child-feeding behavior, dietary intake, and child obesity.

Learning Areas:

Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the acculturative factors influencing maternal child-feeding practices and how this practices influence child dietary practices and health outcomes. Assess the appropriateness of the acculturation scale and constructs for measuring and predicting health outcomes in comparison to sociocultural or demographic factors. Challenge assumptions of the Latino health paradox and acculturation.

Keyword(s): Child Health Promotion, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the primary researcher on the data collected for this study. The information being shared was conducted as part of my dissertation research.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5011.0: The impact of acculturation, acculturative stress and language in Latino health