Acculturated Men Research Articles

Climbing the ladder of decline: Income and acculturation associated with chronic inflammation among Mexican immigrants.

Financial hardship and immigrant status are often associated with poorer health as immigrant groups acculturate to life in the US. Known as the Latino health paradox, studies have shown that Latino/a immigrants in particular often experience declines in health the more they embrace ways of life considered "dominant" by US society. At present, critical biological pathways linking socioeconomic and acculturative processes remain to be better explained. The present study investigates associations among financial strain, acculturation, and chronic inflammation. In our study of 129 Mexican-born immigrants living in the US, we used Pearson's correlations and multiple regression analyses to investigate links among income-to-poverty ratio (an indicator of financial strain), English language engagement (acculturation), and C-reactive protein (CRP), a measure of systemic inflammation. Results showed that for men, but not women, acculturation as defined by English language engagement moderated the association between an income-to-poverty ratio and CRP levels. Consistent with the Latino health paradox, more acculturated men with relatively higher income levels (compared with the study sample) had significantly higher levels of CRP.

Acculturation, hazardous drinking and depressive symptomatology among Hispanics enrolled in a clinical trial

Background: Among Hispanics in USA, lower acculturation level has been found to be protective against alcohol abuse and depression. However, this relationship may not hold within at-risk samples. The prevalence and co-occurrence of hazardous drinking and depressive symptoms and their relationship to acculturation were examined among Hispanics enrolled in a study to reduce heavy drinking. At enrolment, all the participants reported past-month heavy drinking (one or more occasions of >4/5 drinks for females/males, and average weekly consumption >7/14 drinks per week). We explored whether gender moderated the effects of acculturation on hazardous drinking and depressive symptoms. Methods: Participants (N = 100) completed measures at baseline. Results: Eighty-nine percent of participants met criteria for hazardous alcohol use as assessed by the AUDIT and of those, 55% (n = 49) also reported elevated depressive symptoms. Of those who reported elevated depressive symptoms, nearly all (94%) met AUDIT criteria for hazardous drinking. Acculturation was not related to hazardous drinking or depressive symptoms in the full sample. Highly acculturated women reported more hazardous drinking than less acculturated women. Acculturation was not associated with hazardous drinking in men, but less acculturated men reported higher levels of depression than highly acculturated men. Discussion: Depression should be assessed in alcohol interventions for Hispanics. Alcohol interventions should be tailored for acculturation level and gender to improve relevance and efficacy. Clinical Trial Registration #NCT01996280.

Quantity, Type, and Correlates of Physical Activity Among American Middle Eastern University Students

The prevalence of hypokinetic disease among persons of Middle Eastern heritage is higher than whites and research on American young adults of this population is limited. Therefore 214 tertiary students of Middle Eastern descent self-reported their physical activity (PA) over a 1-week monitoring period using pedometers and daily activity logs. Daily step count averaged 9,256 (SD = 3,084) steps, while daily energy expenditure averaged 6.26 kcal/kg (SD = 4.92). Most participants reported no weekly engagement in sport (69.2%) and walk/run (52.8%) activities, and at least once-weekly engagement in conditioning (68.7%) activities. Moderately religious and highly acculturated men, and Muslims, and moderately/highly acculturated persons were more likely to average ≥ = 10,000 steps/day and engage in at least one sport activity per week, respectively. These findings may be related to religious and cultural issues unique to Middle Eastern American college students whose collectivist social affiliations with family and community members may facilitate or inhibit various aspects of PA behavior.

Acculturation and Alcohol Among Latino Adults in the United States: A Comprehensive Review

In light of the inconsistent evidence associating acculturation with drinking outcomes among Latinos in the United States, the current paper comprehensively reviews the literature on this topic. Studies were eligible for review if they (1) were published in a refereed journal, (2) were published in English, (3) sampled Latino/Hispanic adults aged 18+, (4) examined self-reported drinking behavior, alcohol-related problems, and/or alcohol abuse/dependence, and (5) reported original results or unique analyses from a larger dataset. The review includes only studies using composite scales of acculturation. Studies were identified via electronic databases (i.e., PSYCHINFO, ETOH, and PUBMED) using search terms, and combinations thereof, including "acculturat*," "alcohol*," "Latino," and "Hispanic." This search was supplemented by recursive checking and author searches. Thirty-two articles were identified and coded on methodological characteristics; results from 24 disaggregating genders and using appropriate outcomes were summarized. Higher acculturation was very consistently associated with higher odds of drinking among women, even controlling for demographic covariates. The evidence for women also suggested associations between higher acculturation and heavier drinking on other outcomes, including total volume, drinking frequency, typical quantity, heavy/problem drinking, drinking problems, and abuse/dependence, despite some null results. Relationships were weaker and ambiguous among men. Some evidence suggested that highly acculturated men are (compared with peers low on acculturation) more prone to drink, and perhaps as a result, can show higher consumption and problems. However, results also implied that, among male drinkers, higher acculturation may be associated with a lighter drinking pattern. Important study limitations were identified, including low power, aggregation of nondrinkers with drinkers, restrictive sampling, measurement issues, and analytical issues. The pattern of results suggests important associations between acculturation and drinking outcomes-particularly for women-but conclusions are tempered by serious methodological limitations. The review urges further research, particularly large-scale, longitudinal studies, addressing these limitations.

Condom Use at Last Sex Among Unmarried Latino Men: An Event Level Analysis

Information about a specific sexual event can shed light on factors that facilitate or impede condom use. Data were collected by a random digit-dialing telephone survey of unmarried Latino adults in 10 states with large Latino populations. In multivariate analyses, among heterosexually active unmarried Latino men (n = 591), those who reported having a condom available, engaging in a conversation about condoms, having a non-steady, casual partner or a one-time partner, were more likely to use condoms. Men were more likely to use condoms when no other birth control was used or pregnancy was not possible than other men. Findings were similar for both low and high acculturated men. Interventions that increase condom availability may be particularly useful for reducing HIV risk among Latino heterosexual men.

Effect of American acculturation on cigarette smoking behavior among six major Asian American subpopulations in California

To investigate the moderating effect of acculturation and other individual characteristics on smoking behavior and examine the gender-specific prevalence of cigarette smoking among six major Asian American subpopulations in California. Using data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey, we examined smoking prevalence among 5,265 Asian American adults, age 18 to 85 years, who reported being from 1 of the 6 major Asian American subpopulations in the California region. Level of U.S. acculturation was measured by five index variables: country of birth, parents' country of birth, languages spoken at home, years lived in the U.S., and frequency of eating tomatoes prepared in a quintessential American fashion. Multinomial logistic regression methods were used to estimate gender-specific rates of current and past cigarette smoking and its determinants. After adjusting for possible confounding due to age, education level, marital status, alcohol consumption, health care access, and health insurance status, we found that American acculturation level was negatively correlated with men's current smoking rates but positively correlated with women's current smoking rates. Overall, highly acculturated men and least acculturated women had the lowest current smoking rates. Current cigarette smoking prevalence rates were higher among men of Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino background as compared to California men in general. Rates for men of Japanese, Chinese, and South Asian background were, in contrast, lower. As expected, smoking rates for women in all six subpopulations were lower than that seen among men. Tobacco use among Asian Americans is not uniformly low. Some subpopulations have relatively higher rates of use. Most troubling, the process of acculturation to living in the U.S. appears to disadvantage Asian American women. Comprehensive, community-based, culturally-tailored, and language-specific smoking control programs are urgently needed to reduce the high prevalence of cigarette smoking among some subpopulations of Asian American men and reverse the increasing trend of cigarette smoking among Asian American women.

Acculturation and Depression among Puerto Ricans in the Mainland

The relationship between acculturation and depression in a sample of 1,510 Puerto Ricans residing in the U.S. was examined. Acculturation was measured by assessing subjects' spoken, preferred, read, and written language. Depression was evaluated by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The scale yielded a three-factor structure for depression that included depressive affect/somatic, interpersonal, and positive affect dimensions. Low acculturation was associated with low positive affect. Higher acculturated men reported high levels of depressive affect/somatic symptoms. No curvilinear relationships were found. Implications of these findings for working with culturally diverse clients are discussed.

Acculturation and health risk behaviors among Californians of Korean descent

Background. This study examined the effects of acculturation on health behaviors among Korean-Americans in California compared to Koreans in Seoul. Methods. Telephone interviews were conducted with 2,830 Korean-American adults in California (completion rate exceeding 86%) and 500 Korean adults in Seoul (completion of about 50%). Results. Among Korean-Americans, acculturated women were more likely to smoke and drink while acculturated men were more likely to become obese. All Korean-American men reported significantly decreased rates of smoking and drinking compared to Koreans in Seoul. Among both men and women in California, acculturation was associated with high consumption of American foods, and low consumption of traditional Korean foods. Conclusions. These results indicate that more acculturated Korean-Americans were exposed to greater health risk than those who were less acculturated.

Acculturation, alcohol consumption, and AIDS-related risky sexual behavior among African American men

The present study examined the relationship between acculturation, alcohol consumption, and AIDS-related risky sexual behavior in a national probability sample of 338 African American men. Results indicated that acculturation did serve as an indicator of AIDS-related risk: Men at low and moderate levels of acculturation were more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior than were their more highly acculturated counterparts. In addition, interaction effects pointed to groups of high acculturated men—single men and heavy drinkers—who also were likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. Findings from the study suggest that effective AIDS prevention messages should be tailored to high-risk groups within specific cultural and ethnic populations and that risk may differ by level of acculturation. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Multiple Heterosexual Partners and Condom Use among Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites

A telephone survey of 1,592 Hispanic and 629 non-Hispanic white men and women aged 18-49, randomly selected from nine states in the northeastern and southwestern United States, found that married Hispanic men are more likely to have had two or more heterosexual partners in the previous 12 months than are married non-Hispanic men (18% and 9%, respectively). A large proportion of unmarried men (60% of Hispanics and 54% of non-Hispanic whites) report having had more than one partner in the past 12 months. After adjusting for other variables, the odds of having multiple partners are 2.5 times higher among Hispanic men aged 18-24 than among those aged 41-49 and 1.8 times higher among those who live in the Northeast than among those in the Southwest. Highly acculturated Hispanic men are less likely to have multiple partners than are less acculturated men. Among Hispanic women, those who are moderately or highly acculturated are more likely to have multiple partners (odds ratios of 4.9 and 8.4, respectively) than are less acculturated women. About half of men and women with multiple partners report always using condoms with secondary heterosexual partners.

Mexican and Mexican American male sexual behavior & spread of AIDS in California∗

Data generated by the authors' field research on the bisexual and homosexual behaviors of men of Mexican origin living in southern California are presented and compared with the same behaviors of Anglo men in California and Mexican men in Mexico. Preferences for playing either the anal receptive or insertive sexual role and a focus on anal intercourse by unacculturated and less acculturated men of Mexican origin who have sex with men are the sexual behaviors judged to be most significantly different from Anglo men who have sex with men in California. Sexual socialization and acculturation were found to be the most important determinants of whether an individual's adult patterns of homosexual behavior will be more or less influenced by Mexican or Anglo homosexuality in spite of the length of time they may have lived in California. Evidence is presented about the effects that acculturation, preference for a sexual role in anal intercourse, and endogamy have on the spread of the AIDS virus in the Mexican ori...