Acculturation and Its Influence on the Health of Asian Americans

Hideki Morooka, University at Albany, State University of New York

The later generation native-born Asian Americans, and those who immigrated to the United States at younger age, may well be deeply immersed in American mainstream culture. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey, I will examine the major components of acculturation and assimilation into the mainstream society among the first-, 1.5-, and second- as well as later-generation Asian immigrants. The immigrant effect of this phenomenon as the degree of acculturation and assimilation can be examined by linking the intergenerational change of patterns in various health behaviors with English language fluency, nativity, and length of residence in the United States. The social determinants in the intergenerational transition in the risk factors for chronic diseases as well as how acculturation into the mainstream American culture could possibly influence the immigrants in their behavior and create a disposition for the prevalence will be explored.