School of Social Sciences

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Browsing School of Social Sciences by Subject "acculturation"

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    Acculturation and Self-Rated Health among Latino and Asian Immigrants to the United States
    (University of California Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, 2012-08) Kimbro, Rachel Tolbert; Gorman, Bridget K.; Schachter, Ariela
    The ways in which immigrant health profiles change with shifts in acculturation is of increasing interest to scholars and policy makers in the United States, but little is known about the mechanisms that may link acculturation and self-rated health, particularly for Asians. Utilizing the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS) and its data on foreign-born Latinos (N = 1,199) and Asians( N = 1,323) (Pennelletal.2004), we investigate and compare the associations between acculturation and self-rated health for immigrants to the United States from six major ethnic subgroups (Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican). Using comprehensive measures of acculturation, we demonstrate that across ethnic groups, and despite the widely varying contexts of the sending countries and receiving communities, native-language dominance is associated with worse self-rated health relative to bilingualism, and measures of lower acculturation--coethnic ties and remittances—are associated with better self-rated health; and moreover, these associations are only partially mediated by socioeconomic status, and not mediated by acculturative stress, discrimination, social support, or health behaviors. We speculate that immigrants who maintain a native language while also acquiring English, as has been shown for other immigrant outcomes, attain a bicultural fluency, which also enables good health. Surprisingly, we do not find strong associations between duration of time in the United States or age at migrationﾗ measures frequently used to proxy acculturationﾗwith self-rated health. Our findings illustrate the complexity of measuring acculturation and its influence on health for immigrants.
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    Association of Acculturation, Nativity, and Years Living in the United States with Biobanking among Individuals of Mexican Descent
    (American Association for Cancer Research, 2014) Lopez, David S.; Fernandez, Maria E.; Cano, Miguel Angel; Mendez, Claudia; Tsai, Chu-Lin; Wetter, David W.; Strom, Sara S.
    Background: Biobanking is the collection of human biospecimens (tissues, blood, and body fluids) and their associated clinical and outcome data. Hispanics are less likely to provide biologic specimens for biobanking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of acculturation, nativity status, and years living in the United States with participation in biobanking among individuals of Mexican descent. Methods: Participants were 19,212 adults of Mexican descent enrolled in an ongoing population-based cohort in Houston, TX. Participants were offered the opportunity to provide a blood, urine, or saliva sample for biobanking. Acculturation was assessed with the bidimensional acculturation scale for Hispanics and scores were categorized into ﾓlow acculturation,ﾔ ﾓbicultural,ﾔ and ﾓhigh-acculturation.ﾔ Results: After multivariable adjustment, we found an increased likelihood of participation in biobanking among individuals classified as ﾓbiculturalﾔ as compared with ﾓhighly acculturatedﾔ individuals [OR, 1.58; 95% confidence intervals (CI), 1.10ﾖ2.26]. The associations of nativity status and years living in the United States with biobanking were not statistically significant. After stratifying by gender, the associations of acculturation, nativity status, and years living in the United States with biobanking were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Although individuals of Mexican descent who were ﾓbiculturalﾔ were more likely to participate in biobanking than individuals who were ﾓhighly acculturated,ﾔ the difference in rates of participation among acculturation categories was small. The high participation rate in biospecimen collection is likely due to extensive community-engaged research efforts. Future studies are warranted to understand individuals' participation in biobanking. Impact: Community-engaged research efforts may increase Hispanics' participation in biobanking.