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European Journal of Epidemiology

Open Access 01-03-2007 | Risk Factors

Behavioural risk factors in two generations of non-Western migrants: do trends converge towards the host population?

Authors: Karen Hosper, Vera Nierkens, Mary Nicolaou, Karien Stronks

Published in: European Journal of Epidemiology | Issue 3/2007

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Abstract

Migrant mortality does not conform to a single pattern of convergence towards prevalence rates in the host population. To understand better how migrant mortality develops, it is necessary to further investigate how the underlying behavioural determinants change following migration. We studied whether the prevalence of behavioural risk factors over two generations of Turkish and Moroccan migrants converge towards the prevalence rates in the Dutch population. From a random sample from the population register of Amsterdam, 291 Moroccan and 505 Turkish migrants, aged 15–30, participated in a structured interview that included questions on smoking, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and weight/height. Data from the Dutch population were available from Statistics Netherlands. By calculating age-adjusted Odds Ratio’s, prevalence rates among both generations were compared with prevalence rates in the host population for men and women separately. We found indications of convergence across generations towards the prevalence rates in the host population for smoking in Turkish men, for overweight in Turkish and Moroccan women and for physical inactivity in Turkish women. Alcohol consumption, however, remained low in all subgroups and did not converge towards the higher rates in the host population. In addition, we found a reversed trend among Turkish women regarding smoking: the second generation smoked significantly more, while the first generation did not differ from ethnic Dutch. In general, behavioural risk factors in two generations of non-Western migrants in the Netherlands seem to converge towards the prevalence rates in the Dutch population. However, some subgroups and risk factors showed a different pattern.
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Metadata
Title
Behavioural risk factors in two generations of non-Western migrants: do trends converge towards the host population?
Authors
Karen Hosper
Vera Nierkens
Mary Nicolaou
Karien Stronks
Publication date
01-03-2007
Publisher
Kluwer Academic Publishers
Published in
European Journal of Epidemiology / Issue 3/2007
Print ISSN: 0393-2990
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7284
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-007-9104-7