TY - JOUR
T1 - Healthy Eating among Mexican Immigrants
T2 - Migration in Childhood and Time in the United States
AU - Van Hook, Jennifer
AU - Quirós, Susana
AU - Dondero, Molly
AU - Altman, Claire E.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R24 HD041025 and P01 HD062498). We analyzed restricted data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics in the Pennsylvania State University Federal Statistical Research Data Center. The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Research Data Center, the National Center for Health Statistics, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Publisher Copyright:
© American Sociological Association 2018.
PY - 2018/9/1
Y1 - 2018/9/1
N2 - Past research on immigrant health frequently finds that the duration of time lived in the United States is associated with the erosion of immigrants’ health advantages. However, the timing of U.S. migration during the life course is rarely explored. We draw from developmental and sociological perspectives to theorize how migration during childhood may be related to healthy eating among adult immigrants from Mexico. We test these ideas with a mechanism-based age-period-cohort model to disentangle age, age at arrival, and duration of residence. Results show that immigrants who arrived during preschool ages (2–5 years) and school ages (6–11 years) have less healthy diets than adult arrivals (25+ years). After accounting for age at arrival, duration of residence is positively related to healthy eating. Overall, the findings highlight the need to focus more research and policy interventions on child immigrants, who may be particularly susceptible to adopting unhealthy American behaviors during sensitive periods of childhood.
AB - Past research on immigrant health frequently finds that the duration of time lived in the United States is associated with the erosion of immigrants’ health advantages. However, the timing of U.S. migration during the life course is rarely explored. We draw from developmental and sociological perspectives to theorize how migration during childhood may be related to healthy eating among adult immigrants from Mexico. We test these ideas with a mechanism-based age-period-cohort model to disentangle age, age at arrival, and duration of residence. Results show that immigrants who arrived during preschool ages (2–5 years) and school ages (6–11 years) have less healthy diets than adult arrivals (25+ years). After accounting for age at arrival, duration of residence is positively related to healthy eating. Overall, the findings highlight the need to focus more research and policy interventions on child immigrants, who may be particularly susceptible to adopting unhealthy American behaviors during sensitive periods of childhood.
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U2 - 10.1177/0022146518788869
DO - 10.1177/0022146518788869
M3 - Article
C2 - 30039983
AN - SCOPUS:85050908448
SN - 0022-1465
VL - 59
SP - 391
EP - 410
JO - Journal of health and social behavior
JF - Journal of health and social behavior
IS - 3
ER -