Intergenerational differences in acculturation experiences, food beliefs and perceived health risks among refugees from the Horn of Africa in Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the differences in acculturation experiences between parent and adolescent refugees from the Horn of Africa in Melbourne, Australia and to explore food beliefs and perceived health risks from an intergenerational perspective. Design: Qualitative cross-sectional study involving a combination of semi-structured one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions. Setting: North-West suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Subjects: Eritrean, Ethiopian, Somali and Sudanese refugees. Results: Using a purposeful sampling technique, twelve semi-structured face-to-face interviews (nine adults and three adolescents) and four in-depth focus groups (two with adolescents each containing six participants and two with adults one containing six participants and the other ten participants) were carried out. Thus overall data were obtained on fifteen adolescents and twenty-five parents. Qualitative analysis identified differences between parents and adolescents in relation to lifestyle, diet and physical activity. Views regarding health consequences of their changed diets also differed. Parental feeding practices encompassed a variety of methods and were enforced in an attempt by parents to control their children's dietary behaviours and prevent their drift away from traditional eating habits. Conclusions: These findings call for more research to contextualise dietary acculturation among refugee youth and the impact of migration on parenting styles and feeding practices in communities from the Horn of Africa. Preventive health programmes with Horn of Africa refugees need to acknowledge the effect of acculturation on diet and physical activity levels and a socio-cultural framework needs to be developed with respect to the importance and influence of the family environment.

Low demanding parental feeding style is associated with low consumption of whole grains among children of recent immigrants

“…Interestingly, African immigrant mothers in Australia reported that they wanted to try and maintain their traditional foods because their children were so drawn to junk food, yet often found it hard to do with their children. In fact, they reported using junk foods of the new country as a reward for eating their traditional foods [47]. It is also possible that mothers with a high demanding/high responsive style who have been in the U.S. for more than 5 years have acculturated into a different food environment where they demand less healthy foods.…”

“…Parents may continue to maintain values, norms, and behaviors of their culture of origin while children may embrace the cultural attitudes and behaviors of the host country more quickly [46]. In relation to their diets Renzaho for example found that children of immigrants preferred Australian foods (i.e- energy dense snack foods) because they wanted to fit in with their peers and as a result their parents tried to control their dietary intake in hopes of retaining their traditional eating habits [47]. Unfortunately there is little evidence to understand this complex dynamic among immigrant children and parents in the US although a recent study found that children of non-US born parents had unhealthier dietary behaviors while the parents had several obesity protective behaviors [48] suggesting differential effects of an “obesogenic” environment on parents and children.…”

Impact of Socioeconomic and Social Contexts on Youth Perceptions of School Nutrition Policy Development in Lebanon

“…Youth think that health problems related to unhealthy lifestyle are long-term outcomes and still they are young and probably consider themselves impervious to them "it won't happen to me" [37,38]. However, students were able to clearly define healthy food and lifestyle but in practice their behaviors and food choices reflect that knowledge alone does not bring about change [3,8,37].…”

An exploration of dietary practices among South Indians in Brisbane, Australia

“…Adolescence is associated with the beginning of independence and relative freedom from parental supervision, as well as the formation of new peer groups (Sylow & Holm, 2009). Some studies (Tiedje et al, 2014;Wilson & Renzaho, 2015) have reported intergenerational attitudinal differences towards eating among migrants. For adolescents and young adults in general, abstract, future-oriented health problems are of little significance, and eating behaviour remains 'present-oriented' (Al-Khamees, 2009;Collins, 1993).…”