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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Apr 27.
Published in final edited form as: Ethn Health. 2018 Jun 26;25(8):1103–1114. doi: 10.1080/13557858.2018.1492708

Table 1.

Characteristics of Mexican American Men and Women by Acculturation Status1, NHANES 1999–20082 (n=2946)

All Men Women

Characteristics Less Acculturated More Acculturated P Less Acculturated More acculturated p Less Acculturated More Acculturated p

Age (mean, SE) 51.30 (0.46) 53.25 (0.36) ** 50.45 (0.79) 52.87 (0.53) ** 52.25 (0.61) 53.58 (0.42) *

Education (n, %) 2 ** ** **

<High school 1165 (79.25) 634 (36.29) 601 (79.93) 294 (35.79) 564 (78.47) 340 (36.72)

=High school or equiv. 94 (8.90) 277 (23.60) 45 (8.29) 118 (22.82) 49 (9.60) 159 (24.26)

>High school 120 (11.84) 451 (40.11) 59 (11.77) 209 (41.39) 61 (11.93) 242 (39.02)

Income (n, %) 2, 3 ** ** **

PIR<1 486 (37.70) 228 (15.88) 246 (36.93) 98 (14.91) 240 (38.59) 130 (16.66)

1≤PIR<3 630 (52.16) 571 (41.10) 333 (52.95) 261 (40.65) 297 (51.26) 310 (41.50)

PIR ≥3 112 (10.14) 453 (43.06) 54 (10.11) 215 (44.44) 58 (10.16) 238 (41.85)

Health insurance (n, %) 2, 4 ** ** **

None 619 (53.50) 222 (19.30) 308 (52.75) 106 (19.78) 311 (54.33) 116 (18.88)

Public 380 (17.16) 497 (25.27) 180 (13.86) 217 (22.76) 200 (20.87) 280 (27.46)

Private 361 (29.34) 625 (55.43) 207 (33.39) 289 (57.46) 154 (24.80) 336 (53.66)

Married 949 (72.21) 807 (60.47) ** 561 (79.79) 419 (66.44) ** 388 (63.71) 388 (55.29)

Alcohol drinking (n, %) 2 ** * **

Non-drinker 266 (18.08) 176 (11.32) 27 (3.41) 20 (4.40) 239 (34.76) 156 (17.29)

Former-drinker 349 (24.54) 305 (19.15) 197 (25.15) 149 (18.88) 152 (23.86) 156 (19.38)

Current-drinker 647 (57.38) 779 (69.53) 441 (71.44) 405 (76.71) 233 (41.38) 374 (63.33)

Smoking (n, %) 2 * **

Non-smoker 769 (56.36) 674 (50.56) 263 (40.12) 216 (39.35) 506 (74.66) 458 (60.23)

Former-smoker 394 (25.95) 423 (27.80) 289 (36.31) 257 (35.22) 105 (14.27) 166 (21.39)

Current-smoker 214 (17.69) 269 (21.64) 153 (23.57) 149 (25.42) 61 (11.07) 120 (18.38)

Physical activity (n, %) 2, 5 493 (38.22) 628 (50.60) ** 267 (39.76) 324 (57.85) ** 226 (36.48) 304 (44.34) *

HEI total score5 mean (SE) 52.66 (0.56) 49.88 (0.47) ** 51.00 (0.79) 49.47 (0.52) ** 54.52 (0.61) 50.23 (0.63) **

Social support (n, %) 2, 7 ** ** *

No support 130 (30.15) 62 (17.82) * 80 (32.91) 30 (15.76) ** 50 (26.62) 32 (19.60)

Emotional support only 842 (80.0) 946 (91.39) ** 413 (78.02) 439 (91.77) ** 429 (82.07) 507 (91.06) **

Financial support only 652 (58.97) 767 (74.85) ** 302 (53.27) 348 (75.59) ** 350 (65.01) 419 (74.22)

Both emotional and financial support 598 (53.39) 724 (70.00) ** 279 (47.78) 329 (69.86) ** 319 (57.24) 395 (70.12) *

Obesity (n, %) 2, 8 487 (36.94) 523 (41.00) * 177 (27.43) 215 (36.99) ** 310 (47.80) 308 (44.43)

Central obesity (n, %) 2, 9 759 (52.66) 834 (59.83) ** 255 (34.34) 303 (47.67) ** 504 (73.23) 531 (70.32)
1

Acculturation score (0–5) is from the proxy measures on country of birth, language spoken at home and length of time in the U.S. For this set of analyses, scores are used to categorize individuals into less (0–2) and more (3–5) acculturated groups for comparison.

2

NHANES cycle 1999–2000 to 2003–2004 contain social support questions for adults 60 years and older; cycle 2005–2006 and 2007–2008 contain social support questions for adults 40 years and older.

3

Percentages were weighted

4

PIR: Poverty Income Ratio

5

Insurance status: 1) public insurance including Medicare and Medicaid and other forms of government insurance 2) private insurance 3) no health insurance.

6

PAGA: Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Met PAGA is defined as engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity ≥150 minutes per week.

7

The HEI-2010 is summed to a total score of 100. Higher score indicates better diet quality.

8

For the analysis, social support is composed as an index derived from information of emotional support (yes or no) and financial support (yes or no). The index is dichotomized into low or no (neither or either of two kinds of support) and high (both) social support groups for comparison.

9

Obesity is defined as BMI≥30.

10

Central obesity is defined as WC ≥102 cm in men; ≥88 cm in women.

*

P<.05

**

P<.001

Missing: education 53; income 314; insurance 90; married 125; smoking 51; alcohol drinking 245; PA 48; social support 701; obesity 128; central obesity 48