The Obesity Epidemic in Chinese American Youth?: A Literature Review and Pilot Study

Abstract

Despite nearly 14 million Asian Americans living in the United States and continued immigration, this increasingly substantial subpopulation has consistently been left out of national obesity studies. When included in national studies, Chinese-American children have been grouped together with other Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders or simply as "other," yielding significantly lower rates of overweight and obesity compared to non-Asians. There is a failure to recognize the ethnic diversity of Asian Americans as well as the effect of acculturation. Results from smaller studies of Chinese American youth suggest that they are adopting lifestyles less Chinese and more American and that their share of disease burden is growing. After stumbling upon the problem while collecting height and weight for an Asthma study we sought to review the literature as well as determine risk factors contributing to obesity in Boston's Chinatown. We screened 142 children from the waiting room of a community health center that serves primarily recent Chinese immigrants for height, weight and demographic profile. Body Mass Index was calculated and evaluated using CDC growth charts. Overall, 30.1 percent of children were above the 85 th percentile for BMI, while 16.1 percent had BMI>95 th percentile. Using a forward stepwise binary logistic regression, we found being male and being born in the U.S. to be statistically significant for BMI > 85 th percentile (p=0.039, p=0.001, respectively). Our results suggest that being overweight in this Chinese American immigrant population is associated with being born in the U.S. A change in public policy and framework for research are required to accurately assess the extent of overweight and obesity in Chi-32 aapi nexus nese American children. In particular, large scale data should be stratified by age, sex, birthplace and measures of acculturation to identify those at risk and construct tailored interventions.

Ecological risk model of childhood obesity in Chinese immigrant children

“…Consequently, the predominant research emphasis on Asian Americans and immigrants has been on their academic achievement, resulting in little empirical attention given to the health conditions in this group (Juang, Qin, & Park, 2013; Tahseen & Cheah, 2012). Even though Asian Americans have been reported to have lower rates of overweight and obesity compared to non-Asian Americans, there is a general failure to recognize the diverse levels of health status among this heterogeneous group (Jain et al, 2012), likely because of the model minority stereotype depicting Asian Americans as having adapted successfully to the larger American culture (Matloff, Lee, Tang, & Brugge, 2008). The growing issue of obesity among Chinese American children has been suggested in recent research (e.g., Matloff et al, 2008).…”

“…Even though Asian Americans have been reported to have lower rates of overweight and obesity compared to non-Asian Americans, there is a general failure to recognize the diverse levels of health status among this heterogeneous group (Jain et al, 2012), likely because of the model minority stereotype depicting Asian Americans as having adapted successfully to the larger American culture (Matloff, Lee, Tang, & Brugge, 2008). The growing issue of obesity among Chinese American children has been suggested in recent research (e.g., Matloff et al, 2008). However, the existing research on obesity and health disparities among ethnic minority children within the U.S. extensively focuses on Hispanics and African Americans groups (e.g., Caprio et al, 2008; Yu et al, 2004).…”

“…Chinese immigrant parents, who depended upon their children and their greater English proficiency to negotiate the new U.S. culture, experienced a role reversal of authority in the family. These parents with low English proficiency also lost their ability to better control the eating habits of their children, leading to greater obesity in children (Matloff et al, 2008). Also, Chinese immigrant children with highly acculturated mothers have lower BMI, possibly because of an enhanced awareness of the health issues related to obesity in the new cultural context (Chen & Kennedy, 2005).…”