Acculturation, diet and psychological health of Asian international students at the University of Delaware
Date
2015
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Background: Accumulating evidence showed that immigrants change their diet and experience various psychological problems in acculturation process. International students in United States are increasing rapidly and more than 50% of them are from Asian countries. However, little is known about the diet and psychological health of Asian international students along with acculturation level. Aims: This study aims to describe the dietary nutrient intakes and psychological health status of Asian international students at the University of Delaware after their immigration to the U.S. Methods: Online survey was sent out including demographic questionnaire, dietary screener questionnaire (DSQ), Asian American Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AAMAS) and Kessler 6 (psychological screener). Linear regression models were fit to examine the association between normally distributed diet and acculturation data and demographic characteristics. Beta and 95% CI were reported. For non-normally distributed diet and acculturation data, Kruskal-Wallis was performed and median and interquartile range were presented. Results: We observed a trend for bicultural food consumption. Individuals more acculturated to American culture had lower Kessler 6 score (Beta -0.04; 95% CI -0.3, 0.2),those showed higher attachment to original culture had higher Kessler 6 score (Beta 1.1; 95% CI -0.3, 2.4). Specifically, the higher host culture language acquirement and original language maintenance, the better performance on Kessler 6.