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Moving To The Land Of Frosted Cakes And Fried Food: Immigrant Obesity In The U.S

Author

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  • Liu, Jing
  • Waldorf, Brigitte S.

Abstract

The paper focuses on body weight gain among immigrants in the US. The emphasis is on disentangling different time lines that are relevant in the context of immigration and acculturation, namely length of exposure to the high obesity culture, age at immigration, year of immigration and aging. Using data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), we find that (1) acculturation is associated with higher BMIs for the 1st generation, but not the 1.5 generation; (2) immigration at an early age (before 12) facilitates acculturation progress and drives BMI convergence to natives; (3) the effect of sojourn length in the host country is unstable across model specifications; (4) BMI differences between Asian and Latino immigrants are partly due to effect size differences in the acculturation variables.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:puaewp:120896
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.120896
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    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/120896/files/12-1Liu-Waldorf_Feb%202012.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Odelia Rosin, 2008. "The Economic Causes Of Obesity: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 617-647, September.
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    5. McDonald, James Ted & Kennedy, Steven, 2004. "Insights into the 'healthy immigrant effect': health status and health service use of immigrants to Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(8), pages 1613-1627, October.
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