Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and overweight in Asian American adolescents

Abstract

Asian American children and adolescents are an under-investigated subpopulation in obesity research. This study aimed to identify specific profiles of Asian subgroups at high risk of adolescent overweight with special attention to Asian ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and their interaction. Multiple logistic regression models were fitted using a sample of 1533 Asian American adolescents ages 12–17 from the 2007–2012 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). In addition to Asian ethnicity and socioeconomic status (assessed by family income and parental education level), age, gender, nativity, and two lifestyle variables, fast food consumption and physical activity, were also controlled for in these models. Key predictors of overweight in Asian American adolescents included certain Asian ethnicities (Southeast Asian, Filipino, and mixed ethnicities), low family income (< 300% of the Federal Poverty Level), and being male. Multiplicative interaction terms between low family income and two ethnicities, Southeast Asian and Vietnamese that had the lowest SES among Asian ethnic groups, were significantly associated with greatly elevated odds of being overweight (ORs = 12.90 and 6.67, respectively). These findings suggest that high risk of overweight in Asian American adolescents associated with low family incomes may be further elevated for those in low-income ethnic groups. Future research might investigate ethnic-group SES as a meaningful indicator of community-level socioeconomic disparities that influence the health of Asian Americans.

Ethnic-group socioeconomic status as an indicator of community-level disadvantage: A study of overweight/obesity in Asian American adolescents

“…We acknowledge the limited attention to the diversity within each ethnic group as a limitation. Here, findings of a prior study (Cook et al, 2016) are worth noting as they shed some light on this. Using interaction terms between low individual income and Asian ethnicities, this study found greatly-elevated odds of being overweight in Southeast Asian and Vietnamese adolescents (i.e.…”

“…those in the low-SES ethnic groups) who also had low family incomes. Somewhat akin to the interaction between individual- and neighborhood level disadvantage, characterized as the “double jeopardy” in past research (Wen & Christakis, 2005), these findings suggest that the adverse effects of disadvantage on the ethnic group level on adolescent overweight/obesity may be further intensified for those who also experience individual-level poverty (Cook et al, 2016). Further research attention to these disadvantaged Asian subgroups is warranted to address health disparities disproportionately affecting them.…”

“…There is little information about the specific profiles of the subgroups of Asian American children at high risk of obesity or overweight. To our knowledge, only one study (Cook, Tseng, Bautista, & John, 2016) used a representative sample of diverse Asian ethnic groups to identify two Asian ethnicities (Filipino and Southeast Asian) that are associated with high risk of overweight in adolescents. This same study also found multiplicative interactions between ethnicity and individual-level SES: Asian adolescents in the two ethnic groups with the lowest average per capita incomes (i.e.…”

Obesity and Obesogenic Behaviors in Asian American Children with Immigrant and US-Born Mothers

“…Association between maternal nativity and maternal time in the US and obesity among Asian American children ages 2 to 11 years old (n = 609): CHIS 2013-2016. 3 odds ratio, 4 adjusted odds ratio (controlling for family income), 5 confidence interval, * p < 0.05.…”

“…While the prevalence of overweight/obesity is relatively low in this population compared to other racial/ethnic groups [1][2][3], there is a need to better understand risk factors for elevated body mass index (BMI) in Asian American children for several reasons. First, some Asian American ethnic subgroups have a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity than others [4][5][6][7]. One study found that Filipino and Vietnamese American children are more likely to have elevated BMI than their white peers [7].…”