Acculturation in Context: Gender, Age at Migration, Neighborhood Ethnicity, and Health Behaviors*

Abstract

Objectives. This article investigates differences in smoking and binge‐drinking for Latinos by nativity, stratified by their age at immigration, and tests individual‐ and neighborhood‐level acculturation measures as determinants of those differences. Methods. Data are from the Los Angeles Families and Neighborhoods Study (N=2,023) and analyses use multilevel logistic regression. Results. The article finds that Latino immigrants are less likely to smoke or binge drink, compared to their U.S.‐born peers, and that acculturation measures account for some of the immigrant gaps in health behaviors, although results differ by gender and age at migration. Additionally, living in a neighborhood with a high foreign‐born concentration is associated with lower odds of binge‐drinking. Conclusions. Findings suggest that both individual‐ and neighborhood‐level measures of acculturation may contribute to immigrant health behavior advantages, and that it is important to consider these relationships within the context of gender and age at migration.

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