Adversities of acculturation? Prevalence of obesity among immigrants.
I study factors associated with prevalence of obesity among immigrants as the length of their stay in the US becomes longer. Using the National Health Interview Surveys for 1990-2004, I create 'synthetic cohorts' of immigrants that allow controlling for two important determinants of obesity: age at arrival and period of arrival in the US. I find that immigrants with a BA degree did not experience any change in obesity as their stay in the US advanced. Obesity among those without a BA degree, however, increased with duration of stay. Similarly, while some ethnic groups experienced increase in obesity with duration, others did not. For those who experienced increase in obesity with duration, the rise was higher during the first five years of residence than later and greater for those who arrived at a relatively young age.
Kaushal
Neeraj
N
School of Social Work, Columbia University, Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027, USA. nk464@columbia.edu
D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019352:Censuses; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult