To develop simple scales to measure a Chinese immigrant's adoption of Western eating patterns (dietary acculturation).
Data are from 244 less-acculturated women of Chinese ethnicity living in Seattle, Wash, and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Interviewers collected information on sociodemographic characteristics, acculturation indices, items that reflect Western and Chinese dietary behavior, and consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fat.
Analysis of variance and linear regression analyses examined associations among dietary measures and acculturation variables, controlling for age, education, and city of residence.
We developed 2 scales to assess dietary acculturation: the Western Dietary Acculturation Scale and the Chinese Dietary Acculturation Scale, measuring Western and Chinese eating behavior, respectively. Although the population in this study was a less-acculturated sample, most participants reported some Western dietary practices, such as drinking milk (78%), eating cheese (78%), eating at Western fast-food restaurants (56%), and eating between meals (72%). Younger, highly educated women employed outside the home had the highest Western dietary acculturation scores (P