Acculturation and low-birthweight infants among Latino women: a reanalysis of HHANES data with structural equation models.

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that acculturation is associated with negative birth outcomes among mothers in numerous immigrant populations, including Latinas. This study used structural equation models to reanalyze data employed in the 1989 Scribner and Dwyer study on the effect of acculturation (measured through the Cuellar scale) on mothers' low-birthweight status. Data revealed that language components dominate the effects of acculturation on low-birthweight status. Acculturuation appears to affect low-birthweight status indirectly through smoking and dietary intake but not through parity. Acculturation has a persistent direct effect on low-birthweight status, suggesting that other intervening variables are operant.

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“…Cobas and his colleagues found that when they used the Cuellar (19) acculturation scale to reanalyze 1989 Scribner and Dwyer Hispanic negative birth outcome data, the four language items on the scale loaded higher than ethnic identification for both prediction of smoking and lowbirthweight status (20,23,24). This analysis further reinforces the premise that language usage is a dominant factor in measuring levels of Hispanic acculturation.…”

“…Despite the controversy regarding the most accurate and practical method for measuring acculturation among Latino immigrants, acculturation scales that incorporate language preference as a dominant factor continue to provide evidence of reliability and validity in heterogeneous subpopulations (20)(21)(22)(23)(24). Research conducted at Los Angeles prenatal clinics (n = 911) examined the association between acculturation of first generation Mexican immigrants (n = 545) and Mexican American women (n = 366) and factors in low birthweight and preterm delivery.…”

The Influence of Acculturation on Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration for Mexican-Americans

“…In the late 1980s, interest in the paradox was revived. While several health outcomes have been examined for evidence of an epidemiological paradox, including adult mortality Rosenwaike 1987) and adult health status (Markides et al 1997), most of the literature addresses low birthweight and infant mortality (Becerra et al 1991;Cobas et al 1996;Forbes and Frisbie 1991;Hummer, Eberstein and Nam 1992;Landale, Oropesa and Gorman 2000;Rogers 1989;Rogers 1991;Scribner 1991;Scribner and Dwyer 1989;Williams, Binkin and Clingman 1986).…”

“…The latter finding suggested that something about Mexican culture may promote good birth outcomes, and that living in the U.S. is somehow deleterious to this culture. Several studies tested the "cultural protection hypothesis," and found that low levels of acculturation are associated with healthier pregnancy behaviors and birth outcomes (Balcazar and Krull 1999;Balcazar, Peterson and Cobas 1996;Cobas et al 1996;English, Kharrazi and Guendelman 1997;Landale et al 2000;Sherman 1993;Sherraden and Barrera 1997).…”

The Differential Effect of Foreign-Born Status on Low Birth Weight by Race/Ethnicity and Education

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] However, this result varies across racial/ethnic and national-origin groups. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Using 1985-1987 national data, a previous study documented that there were significant differentials between US-born and foreign-born women in LBW and that these differentials varied across major US racial/ ethnic groups. 20 Our article contributes to this body of research by using more recent (ie, 1998) national data to address the effects of nativity, race/ethnicity, and SES, and their interaction, on LBW.…”