Measuring culture: a critical review of acculturation and health in Asian immigrant populations

The number of studies examining how acculturation affects the health of Asian immigrants has increased in recent years. The proliferation of studies reflects the growing size and heterogeneity of Asian immigrant populations in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science & medicine (1982) 2003-07, Vol.57 (1), p.71-90
Main Authors: Salant, Talya, Lauderdale, Diane S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acculturation
Analysis. Health state
Asia - ethnology
Asian Cultural Groups
Asian immigrants
Asian immigrants Acculturation Health
Asian people
Asians
Biological and medical sciences
Culture
Developed Countries
Emigration and Immigration
Epidemiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Health
Health Care Utilization
Health Status
Humans
Immigrants
Literature reviews
Medical sciences
Medicine
Mental Health
Miscellaneous
Noncitizens
Patient Acceptance of Health Care - ethnology
Predictors
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Social psychology
Social sciences
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Summary:The number of studies examining how acculturation affects the health of Asian immigrants has increased in recent years. The proliferation of studies reflects the growing size and heterogeneity of Asian immigrant populations in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. This paper compares various approaches to acculturation within the health literature on Asian immigrants by reviewing the literature in three-health domains (1) mental health (2) physical health and (3) health services use. The review critically examines the conceptualizations and measures of acculturation in these three domains and presents major findings. We observe that measurement difficulties posed by the experiences of heterogeneous Asian groups compound theoretical and disciplinary disparities between acculturation instruments. The extent to which conceptual and methodological critiques of acculturation studies in Hispanic populations apply to studies of Asian populations is also discussed. The critical review thus provides insights into the diverse ways that the relationship between culture and health is measured in this complicated and growing literature.
ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00300-3