Demographic Analysis of SES Stability & Well-Being Among Children of Immigrants

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议研究的目标是检查移民和本地人子女的社会经济地位（SES），社会经济不稳定和超重之间的关系。这个话题很重要，因为超过五分之一的美国儿童是移民的孩子，他们中的许多人都有超重或肥胖的高风险。然而，对于移民儿童在童年中期的体重轨迹知之甚少，这个年龄段的干预措施可能最有效。此外，对移民子女的研究提供了一个独特的机会，有助于解决社会经济健康梯度文献中的一些不一致之处。在公共卫生和人口统计学文献中，一个更持久的发现是，较高的社会经济地位与较好的健康状况相关（Finch 2003）。然而，社会经济地位与儿童体重状况（健康的一个关键指标）之间的关系因种族和民族而异。拟议的研究是创新的，因为它是第一个使用全国代表性的纵向数据的研究之一-幼儿纵向研究-幼儿园队列-探索移民儿童的体重轨迹模式，但也是理论上的动机，借鉴同化理论，营养理论和社会分层理论，超越了出生状态和肥胖的描述性画像。很大一部分拉美裔和亚裔是移民或移民的子女。然而，在公共卫生和流行病学的研究文献才刚刚开始区分群体的出生或代际地位，并尚未考虑原籍国的特点或出生变化的结构效度的教育程度的研究SES梯度。与以前的研究不同，我们关注SES的相对和绝对测量，以最好地评估SES和肥胖之间的关系。通过运用社会学和人口学关于移民及其原籍国的见解，我们解决了儿童健康方面的种族/民族差异问题。这项研究将作为一个更大的项目的跳板，该项目将研究SES梯度背后的行为和社会心理机制，但也将研究一些结构性变化，这些变化往往伴随着SES的变化，这些变化可能与不同的体重轨迹有关。公共卫生相关性：这项研究的目的是研究移民和当地人的孩子的社会经济地位（SES），社会经济不稳定和超重之间的关系。这项拟议中的研究意义重大，因为超过五分之一的美国儿童是移民的孩子，其中许多人有超重或肥胖的高风险。除了与移民子女的健康和福祉相关外，移民健康研究还关注美国环境对所有儿童（移民或本地人）健康的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed research is to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), socioeconomic instability and overweight among young children of immigrants and children of natives. This topic is significant because over one in five U.S. children is the child of an immigrant, many of whom are at high risk of becoming overweight or obese. Yet little is known about weight trajectories for children of immigrants in middle childhood, the age when interventions might be most effective. In addition, research on the children of immigrants provides a unique opportunity to help resolve some of the inconsistencies in the literature on the socioeconomic-health gradient. One of the more enduring findings in the public health and demographic literature is that higher SES is associated with better health (Finch 2003). Yet the relationship between SES and child's weight status, a key indicator of health, varies across race and ethnic groups. The proposed research is innovative because it is one of the first studies to use nationally representative, longitudinal data-the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort-to explore weight trajectory patterns among children of immigrants, but is also theoretically motivated, drawing on assimilation theory, nutrition theory, and social stratification theory to move beyond just a descriptive portrait of nativity status and obesity. A large proportion of Hispanics and Asians are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Yet the research literature in public health and epidemiology has only just begun to distinguish groups by nativity or generational status, and has not yet considered country of origin characteristics or nativity variation in the construct validity of educational attainment in research on the SES-gradient. Unlike prior studies we focus on both relative and absolute measures of SES to best assess the relationship between SES and obesity. By applying insights from sociology and demography about immigrants and their countries of origin, we address the question of race/ethnic disparities in children's health. The research will serve as a springboard for a larger project which will examine the behavioral and social psychological mechanisms underlying the SES-gradient, but also will examine some of the structural changes that tend t accompany shifts in SES that could be associated with different weight trajectories. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The goal of the proposed research is to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), socioeconomic instability and overweight among young children of immigrants and children of natives. The proposed research is significant because over one in five U.S. children is the child of an immigrant, many of whom are at high risk of becoming overweight or obese. In addition to having relevance to the health and well-being of children of immigrants, research on immigrant health focuses attention on the effects of the U.S. environment on the health of all children, immigrant or native.