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The Perceived Impact of Moving to United States on Eating Habits among College Students from Countries Gulf Cooperation Council
Author(s) -
Huwaikem Mashael,
Campa Adriana
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.682.12
Subject(s) - miami , demographics , demography , nationality , anthropometry , medicine , immigration , psychology , environmental health , gerontology , geography , sociology , environmental science , archaeology , soil science
Objective To evaluate the social‐culture factors affect the changes in eating habits among college students from the Cooperation Council Gulf Cooperation Council of the Arab states at Gulf (GCC), which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arabs Of Emirates. Methods This was a semi‐qualitative, retrospective study of 80 college students from GCC. Eligible participants resided in the United States for at least six months, were older than 18 years, and originated from one of the GCC countries. Data were collected through a self‐administered questionnaire addressing socio‐demographics and cultural factors that may have influenced changes in their diet such as age, gender, anthropometrics, nationality, socio‐economic characteristics (education and income) and dietary habits in their country of origin and perceived changes in eating behavior and time and type of food consumed. Quality of the diet before and after immigration was measured by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). Descriptive statistics, T‐tests (independent‐samples, and paired), χ 2 , Spearman's and Partial Correlations were conducted using SPSS vs. 21. Alpha was set at 0.1. The study was approved by the Florida International University Institutional Review Board. Results Participants were mostly males (70%) and Saudi (57.5%); 78.8% were single and 82.5% had been living more than a year in Miami, Florida. Being male was significantly and inversely correlated with an improved HEI (r = −0.278 , P= 0.012) and having higher BMI was positively correlated with moving to Miami (r = 0.259, P= 0.021). After the participants moved, lunch became more frequently their main meal in contrast with dinner in their native country (Positive Likelihood ratio [LR+]= 12.056, P= 0.061). In Miami, students were more likely to have a more balanced meals according to their HEI score (LR+= 4.4, P= 0.037) than when they were in their native country. When participants’ eating behaviors before and after living in Miami were compared, the most important changes after they moved were significant decreases in eating out, and increased cooking and skipping meals. Conclusions Cooking and eating behaviors before immigration were associated with deeply rooted cultural beliefs and values; however, when moving into a culture with different and varied dietary habits, away from their native country, changes in eating habits were observed in GCC college students within 6 month to one year of being in the United States. Moreover, most of the changes improved the quality of their diet by selecting more balanced meals, according to US Dietary guidelines. Men changed their food habits and cooking behaviors significantly more than women.