OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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| Title | Acculturation and its association with health-risk behaviors in a rural Latina population. |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2005 |
| Authors | Kasirye, OC, Walsh, JA, Romano, PS, Beckett, LA, Garcia, JA, Elvine-Kreis, B, Bethel, JW, Schenker, MB |
| Journal | Ethnicity & disease |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pagination | 733-9 |
| Date Published | 2005 Autumn |
| Keywords | Rural Health |
| Abstract | PURPOSE: To evaluate the performance of proxy measures of acculturation and to examine the association between acculturation and selected health-risk behaviors. METHODS: Participants were 1062 Latina pregnant women who received prenatal care at clinics in San Joaquin County, California between 1999 and 2001. We used the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve to characterize the sensitivity and specificity of proxy measures and regression analysis to examine health-risk behaviors. RESULTS: Using the ARSMA-II short version scale as a reference, age at immigration had the highest percentage of correctly classified individuals. Acculturation was significantly associated with a lifetime history of substance use, risky sexual behavior, low fruit consumption, and high fast-food meal consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Acculturation is an important predictor of health-risk behavior among women. Further research is needed to better understand the phenomenon and to avert associated adverse health consequences. |