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Adolescent participation in preventive health behaviors, physical activity, and nutrition: Differences across immigrant generations for Asians and Latinos compared with whites

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  • Allen, M.L.
  • Elliott, M.N.
  • Morales, L.S.
  • Diamant, A.L.
  • Hambarsoomian, K.
  • Schuster, M.A.

Abstract

Objectives. We investigated preventive health behaviors (bicycle helmet, seat belt, and sunscreen use), physical activity, television viewing or video game playing, and nutrition (fruit, vegetable, milk, and soda consumption) among Asian and Latino adolescents living in the United States; assessed trends across generations (first-, second-, and third-generation immigrants or later); and compared each generation with White adolescents. Methods. We used data from 5801 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years in the representative 2001 California Health Interview Survey. Results. In multivariate analysis, first-generation Asians measured worse than Whites for preventive health behaviors (lower participation), physical activity (less activity), and television viewing or video game playing (more hours), but improved across generations. For these same behaviors, Latinos were similar to or worse than Whites, and generally showed no improvement across generations. First-generation Asians and Latinos had healthier diets than Whites (higher fruit and vegetable consumption, lower soda consumption). With succeeding generations, Asians' fruit, vegetable, and soda consumption remained stable, but Latinos' fruit and vegetable consumption decreased and their soda consumption increased, so that by the third generation Latinos' nutrition was poorer than Whites'. Conclusions. For the health behaviors we examined, Asian adolescents' health behaviors either improved with each generation or remained better than that of Whites. Latino adolescents demonstrated generally worse preventive health behaviors than did Whites and, in the case of nutrition, a worsening across generations. Targeted interventions may be needed to address behavioral disparities.

Suggested Citation

  • Allen, M.L. & Elliott, M.N. & Morales, L.S. & Diamant, A.L. & Hambarsoomian, K. & Schuster, M.A., 2007. "Adolescent participation in preventive health behaviors, physical activity, and nutrition: Differences across immigrant generations for Asians and Latinos compared with whites," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(2), pages 337-343.
  • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2005.076810_5
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.076810
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    Cited by:

    1. Buttenheim, Alison M. & Pebley, Anne R. & Hsih, Katie & Chung, Chang Y. & Goldman, Noreen, 2013. "The shape of things to come? Obesity prevalence among foreign-born vs. US-born Mexican youth in California," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-8.
    2. Liu, Jing & Waldorf, Brigitte S., 2012. "Moving To The Land Of Frosted Cakes And Fried Food: Immigrant Obesity In The U.S," Working papers 120896, Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    3. Lena Lämmle & Alexander Woll & Gert B. M. Mensink & Klaus Bös, 2013. "Distal and Proximal Factors of Health Behaviors and Their Associations with Health in Children and Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-35, July.
    4. Soyang Kwon & Meme Wang-Schweig & Namratha R. Kandula, 2020. "Body Composition, Physical Activity, and Convenience Food Consumption among Asian American Youth: 2011–2018 NHANES," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-13, August.
    5. Gonzalez, Christopher J. & Copeland, Molly & Shapiro, Martin F. & Moody, James, 2023. "Associations of peer generational status on adolescent weight across Hispanic immigrant generations: A social network analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    6. Bhat, Chandra R. & Astroza, Sebastian & Sidharthan, Raghuprasad & Alam, Mohammad Jobair Bin & Khushefati, Waleed H., 2014. "A joint count-continuous model of travel behavior with selection based on a multinomial probit residential density choice model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 31-51.
    7. Afable-Munsuz, Aimee & Ponce, Ninez A. & Rodriguez, Michael & Perez-Stable, Eliseo J., 2010. "Immigrant generation and physical activity among Mexican, Chinese & Filipino adults in the U.S," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 1997-2005, June.
    8. Quandt, Sara A. & Grzywacz, Joseph G. & Trejo, Grisel & Arcury, Thomas A., 2014. "Nutritional strategies of Latino farmworker families with preschool children: Identifying leverage points for obesity prevention," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 72-81.
    9. Brewer, Mackenzie & Kimbro, Rachel Tolbert, 2014. "Neighborhood context and immigrant children's physical activity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 1-9.
    10. Kyunghwa Kwak, 2018. "Age and Gender Variations in Healthy Immigrant Effect: a Population Study of Immigrant Well-Being in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 413-437, May.

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