Table 1.
Lifestyle characteristics by quartile of language-based acculturation in Puerto Rican adults
| Lifestyle Variableb | Language-based Acculturation Quartilea |
Chi-square or P-trend | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | ||
| Median acculturation score | 0 | 8.3 | 29.2 | 53.6 | N/A |
| Age (y) | 60.5 ± 0.5w | 58.3 ± 0.4x | 57.2 ± 0.4x | 54.3 ± 0.4y | <0.0001 |
| Female (%) | 82.9w | 73.3wx | 67.1x | 64.6x | <0.0001 |
| Language of the interview (%) | |||||
| English | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 12.0 | <0.0001 |
| Spanish | 99.6 | 97.9 | 89.4 | 57.0 | |
| Both | 0.0 | 1.5 | 9.4 | 31.1 | |
| Psychological acculturation scorec | 14.3 ± 0.4w | 15.5 ± 0.3w | 18.7 ± 0.3x | 23.2 ± 0.4y | <0.0001 |
| Born in Puerto Rico (%) | 98.8 | 98.8 | 98.8 | 88.8 | <0.0001 |
| Age at first arrival in the US (y) | 30.3 ± 0.7w | 26.6 ± 0.6x | 22.6 ± 0.6y | 16.6 ± 0.7z | <0.0001 |
| Length of time in the US (y) | 29.2 ± 0.8w | 31.7 ± 0.7w | 35.3 ± 0.7x | 41.2 ± 0.7y | <0.0001 |
| Circular migration (%) | 33.7 | 41.4 | 37.0 | 35.9 | 0.25 |
| Education ≤ 8th grade (%) | 73.0w | 59.3x | 39.3y | 24.4z | <0.0001 |
| Currently working (%) | 14.8w | 15.4w | 22.8w | 37.3x | <0.0001 |
| Household income ($) | 13,054w | 13,410w | 19,479x | 28,062y | <0.0001 |
| Poverty (%) | 67.0w | 68.0w | 51.8x | 39.3y | <0.0001 |
| Food insecurity (%) | 25.3 | 28.0 | 24.1 | 24.1 | 0.40 |
| Health insurance (%) | 96.9 | 95.9 | 93.7 | 92.9 | 0.11 |
| Marital status (%) | |||||
| Married | 26.1 | 31.1 | 38.9 | 32.9 | <0.0001 |
| Divorced/separated | 40.1 | 41.6 | 36.4 | 42.5 | |
| Widowed | 20.6 | 15.8 | 11.3 | 7.2 | |
| Never married | 13.2 | 11.4 | 13.5 | 17.5 | |
| Current smoking (%) | 25.2 | 23.1 | 27.9 | 28.7 | 0.40 |
| Current alcohol use (%) | 37.5wx | 35.7w | 47.0x | 48.6x | 0.003 |
| Physical activity (%) | |||||
| Sedentary/light | 95.0 | 96.8 | 92.8 | 92.3 | 0.04 |
| Moderate/heavy | 5.0 | 3.2 | 7.2 | 7.7 | |
Sample sizes per quartile of acculturation were: Q1, n = 258; Q2, n = 341; Q3, n = 320; Q4, n = 294.
Continuous variables are means ± SE. Variables were adjusted for age, sex, and poverty status, except for the following: age was adjusted for sex and poverty; % female, for age and poverty; household income and food insecurity, for age and sex; and food insecurity, for age, sex, and education level.
Psychological acculturation score was calculated by summing responses to 10 questions, each based on a 5-point Likert scale, with “1” being “Only with Puerto Ricans” and “5”, “Only with Americans”; the possible range was 1–50.
Means sharing the same superscripts (w,x,y,z) are not significantly different from one another, using ANCOVA with Tukey’s HSD test (P<0.05).