IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ehbiol/v11y2013i1p1-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Immigrants’ acculturation and changes in Body Mass Index

Author

Listed:
  • Iversen, Tor
  • Ma, Ching-to Albert
  • Meyer, Haakon E.

Abstract

We study Body Mass Index (BMI) changes among immigrants from Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Vietnam relative to native Norwegians in Oslo. We assess the effect of acculturation on BMI changes. We hypothesize that acculturation reduces the gap of BMIs between natives and immigrants. Acculturation is measured by immigrants’ language skills. Our data come from two surveys in Oslo 2000–2002. Weights and heights were measured at the surveys; participants were asked to recall weights when they were 25 years old. Norwegian language skills and socio-economic data were collected. Our findings support our hypothesis. Acculturation, as measured by proficiency in the Norwegian language, has the predicted effects on BMI changes. We do not find any effect of immigrants’ time of residency on BMI changes.

Suggested Citation

  • Iversen, Tor & Ma, Ching-to Albert & Meyer, Haakon E., 2013. "Immigrants’ acculturation and changes in Body Mass Index," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 1-7.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:11:y:2013:i:1:p:1-7
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2012.02.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X12000251
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ehb.2012.02.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McDonald, James Ted & Kennedy, Steven, 2005. "Is migration to Canada associated with unhealthy weight gain? Overweight and obesity among Canada's immigrants," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(12), pages 2469-2481, December.
    2. Iversen, Tor & Ma, Albert & Meyer, Haakon E., 2010. "Immigrants`s acculturation and chanes in body mass index," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2010:3, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jonas Kinge & Tom Kornstad, 2014. "Assimilation effects on infant mortality among immigrants in Norway: Does maternal source country matter?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(26), pages 779-812.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alice Goisis & Melissa Martinson & Wendy Sigle, 2019. "When richer doesn’t mean thinner: Ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and the risk of child obesity in the United Kingdom," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(23), pages 649-678.
    2. Susan L. Averett & Laura M. Argys & Jennifer L. Kohn, 2013. "Immigrants, wages and obesity: the weight of the evidence," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 13, pages 242-256, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Hamilton, Tod G. & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2013. "Changes in income inequality and the health of immigrants," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 57-66.
    4. Amelie F. Constant & Teresa García-Muñoz & Shoshana Neuman & Tzahi Neuman, 2018. "A “healthy immigrant effect” or a “sick immigrant effect”? Selection and policies matter," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(1), pages 103-121, January.
    5. Hall, Brian J. & Huang, Lei & Yi, Grace & Latkin, Carl, 2021. "Fast food restaurant density and weight status: A spatial analysis among Filipina migrant workers in Macao (SAR), People's Republic of China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    6. Steven Kennedy & James Ted Mcdonald, 2006. "Immigrant Mental Health and Unemployment," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 82(259), pages 445-459, December.
    7. Devillanova, Carlo, 2008. "Social networks, information and health care utilization: Evidence from undocumented immigrants in Milan," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 265-286, March.
    8. Liu, Jing & Waldorf, Brigitte S., 2012. "Moving To The Land Of Frosted Cakes And Fried Food: Immigrant Obesity In The U.S," Working papers 120896, Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    9. Leigh Ann Leung, 2014. "Healthy And Unhealthy Assimilation: Country Of Origin And Smoking Behavior Among Immigrants," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(12), pages 1411-1429, December.
    10. James Ted McDonald & Steven Kennedy, 2005. "Ethnicity, Immigration and Cancer Screening: Evidence for Canadian Women," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 145, McMaster University.
    11. Barry R. Chiswick & Yew Liang Lee & Paul W. Miller, 2008. "Immigrant Selection Systems And Immigrant Health," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 26(4), pages 555-578, October.
    12. Bodea, Tudor D. & Garrow, Laurie A. & Meyer, Michael D. & Ross, Catherine L., 2009. "Socio-demographic and built environment influences on the odds of being overweight or obese: The Atlanta experience," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 430-444, May.
    13. Yuval Arbel & Chaim Fialkoff & Amichai Kerner, 2020. "Migration and Food Consumption: The Impact of Culture and Country of Origin on Obesity as an Indicator of Human Health," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-22, September.
    14. Monika Sander, 2008. "Changes in Immigrants' Body Mass Index with Their Duration of Residence in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 122, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    15. Urquia, Marcelo L. & Frank, John W. & Glazier, Richard H., 2010. "From places to flows. International secondary migration and birth outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(9), pages 1620-1626, November.
    16. James Ted McDonald, 2005. "The Health Behaviors of Immigrants and Native-born People in Canada," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 144, McMaster University.
    17. Susan Averett & Laura Argys & Jennifer Kohn, 2012. "Immigration, obesity and labor market outcomes in the UK," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-19, December.
    18. Chun, Kevin M. & Chesla, Catherine A. & Kwan, Christine M.L., 2011. ""So We Adapt Step by Step": Acculturation experiences affecting diabetes management and perceived health for Chinese American immigrants," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 256-264, January.
    19. McKennie, Caitlin & Argys, Laura M. & Friedson, Andrew I., 2018. "Is Good Health Contagious? The Impact of BMI Environment on Individual BMI," IZA Discussion Papers 11770, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Hamilton, Tod G. & Hummer, Robert A., 2011. "Immigration and the health of U.S. black adults: Does country of origin matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(10), pages 1551-1560.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:11:y:2013:i:1:p:1-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622964 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.