Abstract
This study of 14 Australian immigrant mothers from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan and their 12 children aged 8 to 11 years aims to explore the interplay of cultural and social processes that might elevate the risk of obesity. Mothers and their children were asked in semi-structured, face-to-face interviews about changes in their diet and physical activities after immigration to Australia. Thematic analysis of these interviews showed a transformation in immigrant families’ diets and physical activities as they transitioned from their traditional lifestyles to an Australian pattern. Both mothers and their children recognized the problem—and causes—of obesity. However, different frames of reference—origin countries for mothers and Australian peers for children—resulted in generational disjuncture about healthy bodyweight and the strategies to achieve it. Mothers’ cultural values and high social status associated with overweight and obesity in origin countries led them to struggle to adapt to new health behaviors in Australia. In contrast, their children preferred to eat Australian foods and have high physical activities to fit in with their Australian peers. Children with higher body weights were commonly ridiculed and were unpopular among their peers. Our findings reveal that the social status of food and physical activity reflects cultural meanings from both origin and host countries, creating contradictions and tensions for immigrants that public health campaigns will need to help them navigate.
Highlights
Immigrants from low- and-middle-income countries (LMICs) are generally healthier on arrival than their counterparts in high-income countries (HICs) such as Australia (Hauck et al, 2011; Kennedy et al, 2015; Ro, 2014)
All the participant mothers immigrated to Australia between the ages of 20 and 30, as the spouses of skilled immigrants (Table 1)
We found that immigrant mothers and their children were bicultural—they followed dietary and physical activity practices of both origin country and Australia
Summary
Immigrants from low- and-middle-income countries (LMICs) are generally healthier on arrival than their counterparts in high-income countries (HICs) such as Australia (Hauck et al, 2011; Kennedy et al, 2015; Ro, 2014). The main reason for this deterioration is a rapid transformation from the pre-immigration diet and activity levels that are common in agriculturally based economies, to the unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles of host HICs (Popkin, 1994; Popkin et al, 2012; Satia, 2010; SatiaAbouta et al, 2002) Immigrants and their children who are born or raised in HICs experience a corresponding increase in health risk (Renzaho et al, 2009; Zulfiqar, Strazdins, Dinh, et al, 2018). Acculturation theory is, of critical importance to understand the choices immigrants make when they navigate the health behaviors in the host society
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