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Abstract
This dissertation examines the relationship between nativity, acculturation, and health behaviors for Mexican-American immigrants to the United States. Specifically, this dissertation argues for the necessity of multi-level measures of acculturation and determines the impact of these acculturation measures on smoking, breastfeeding, and weight status for Mexican-American adults and adolescents. This dissertation goes beyond prior studies of immigrant health in two major ways: (1) it argues that scholars interested in the relationship between ethnicity, nativity, and health outcomes would be better-served to first focus on health behaviors, because they are more closely related to culture and (2) it develops and explores multi-level measures of acculturation. I employ two datasets to test the hypotheses about the relationship between acculturation and health behaviors: The Los Angeles Families and Neighborhoods Survey (L.A.FANS) and the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS).
The first study explores the relationship between nativity, smoking, and acculturation measures for Mexican-American adults and adolescents using L.A.FANS data. Using multi-level logit models, it shows that both Mexican immigrants and their children smoke less than the U.S.-born and their children. Acculturation measures do not significantly decrease the generational difference in smoking for adults, but neighborhood immigrant concentration is a significant predictor of smoking. For adolescents, individual and family characteristics mediate the majority of the generational difference in smoking.
The second study, also using L.A.FANS data, explores the relationship between nativity, body mass index, and acculturation measures, as well as neighborhood measures of immigrant concentration and food availability. Using multi-level linear models, I find that Mexican immigrants have lower average BMIs than U.S.-born Mexican-Americans, and that acculturation measures mediate one-third of this generational difference.
The third study uses FFCWS data to examine the relationship between breastfeeding initiation and duration, nativity, and acculturation for Mexican-American and white mothers. Using logistic regression, I show that Mexican immigrants have three times the odds of breastfeeding their child as whites, and that this difference is partially explained by acculturation characteristics. Using discrete-time logit models, I show that Mexican immigrant women have longer average durations of breastfeeding compared to whites, and that acculturation measures account for this difference.
