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Description
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of parent acculturation on child fruit and vegetable consumption and obesity, as measured by BMI, among Mexican American and other Hispanic families. Mexican Americans make up the largest sub-group of Hispanics in the U.S. and account for a large proportion of the prevalence of overweight and obesity. There is a need to understand the influences of acculturation among Mexican American and other Hispanic families in order to reduce and prevent childhood obesity among this population in the U.S. Secondary baseline data from a randomized controlled trial was analyzed for this study. The study took place in San Diego County, California. Participants consisted of a total of 541 families with a child between the ages of 5 and 8 years old who spoke English or Spanish and lived within up to three miles from a local community recreation center. Only Mexican American or other Hispanic individuals were included in the present study, yielding a final sample size of 250 participants. Height and weight measurements were collected to calculate the age- and sex-specific BMI for each child and parent. Self-administered surveys were given to parents and included questions on basic demographics, acculturation, and child fruit and vegetable consumption. Over half (56.4%) of the parents were born in Mexico; 86.8% of the children were born in the U.S. Parent acculturation scores ranged from 4 to 32 with a mean of 16.41 (SD=9.25); child acculturation scores ranged from 1 to 5 with a mean of 3.53 (SD=0.81). The bivariate results indicated that the outcome variable of child BMI z score was related to the main predictor variable of parent acculturation at the 0.20 significance level. At the same significance level, the outcome variable of child fruit consumption was associated with parent acculturation (p=0.01). After controlling for parent acculturation and parent birth place, child BMI z score remained significantly related to parent BMI (p<0.0001). Child fruit consumption was significantly associated with both parent acculturation (p=0.01) and parent BMI (p=0.04) after adjusting for the other variables in the model. Child vegetable consumption was not significantly related to parent acculturation. The present findings suggest that parental weight status may be more predictive of child obesity than acculturation. Current scales may not capture the aspects of acculturation that have a more significant impact on childhood obesity and dietary behaviors. This study highlights the need to examine behavioral and psychosocial factors in order to provide a more comprehensive explanation of the cultural factors related to childhood obesity and diet.
