Is Acculturation putting Asian Americans at risk for diabetes and obesity?

The overall objective of this study is to examine the relationships among ethnicity, acculturation, and health in the top six Asian American groups in California: Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese Americans. It examines to what extent the "immigrant health paradox" or "healthy immigrant effect" applies to the Asian American population. Largely based on studies of Mexican Americans, this paradox shows that newly arrived immigrants are often healthier than the overall U.S. population, but the longer they stay in the U.S., the more their health declines until it matches the level of the U.S. native population. We will be performing a secondary data analysis based upon the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data from 2001-2014 to research the growing problem of type 2 diabetes and obesity among the six Asian American groups. Comparisons will be made among native born, recent immigrants, and long-established immigrants using exploratory data analysis as well as hierarchical regression methods. We will also draw comparisons with Whites, Latina/os, and the larger California population. This project examines the links between disease and not just individual characteristics and behaviors, but also within the context of communities. The Principal Investigators, Edith Chen and Lawrence Chu, and their interdisciplinary research team bring complementary expertise to this pilot study. The PIs' expertise and research backgrounds include knowledge of Asian American populations, immigrant and minority populations, social determinants of health, epidemiology, geographic analysis, obesity, food insecurity, and economic behaviors of immigrant and minority populations, along with experience working with large data sets.