Health Behaviors and Related Factors among Asian Immigrant Women in Korea by Ethnicity

Sook Ja Yang

doi:10.12799/jkachn.2011.22.1.66

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Yang: Health Behaviors and Related Factors among Asian Immigrant Women in Korea by Ethnicity

Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing 2011; 22(1): 66-74.

Published online: 4 April 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2011.22.1.66

Health Behaviors and Related Factors among Asian Immigrant Women in Korea by Ethnicity

Sook Ja Yang

Associate Professor, Division of Nursing Science, College of Health Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Korea.

Address reprint requests to: Yang, Sook Ja, Division of Nursing Science, College of Health Sciences, Ewha Womans University, 11-1 Daehyun-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-750, Korea. Tel: 82-2-3277-4652, Fax: 82-2-3277-2850, yangsj@ewha.ac.kr

Received 14 February 2011 Revised 21 March 2011 Accepted 22 March 2011

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to assess the prevalence of smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and diet and to identify sociodemographic factors related with health behaviors among Asian immigrant women in Korea by ethnicity.

Methods

A cross-sectional study using structured questionnaires was conducted in 396 immigrant women from China, Vietnam, and the Philippines to Korea through international marriage. The associations between health behaviors and sociodemographic characteristics were assessed using multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Results

The prevalence of current smoking, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and abnormal diet were 4.2%, 7.6%, 49.3%, and 31.9%, respectively. The prevalence of current smoking (7.6%) and physical inactivity (56.7%) was highest in Chinese immigrant women. However, the prevalence of current smoking (2.7%) and alcohol consumption (3.8%) were lowest in Vietnamese immigrant women. Immigrant women who had been living in Korea for a long time since immigration (≥ 5 years) had a higher prevalence of alcohol consumption compared to those of who had been living in Korea for a short time since immigration (< 5 years) (OR=2.95, 95% CI=1.74-5.01).

Conclusion

Health promotion programs for immigrant women should be differentiated based on health behaviors and their related factors by ethnicity.

Keywords: Immigrants, Smoking, Alcohol consumption, Physical activity, Diet

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Sociodemographic Characteristics of Asian Immigrant Women by Ethnicity (N=396)

^†Missing values were excluded.

Table 2

Patterns of Health Behaviors among Asian Immigrant Women by Ethnicity (N=396)

Table 3

Sociodemographic Factors related with Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, Physical Inactivity and Abnormal Diet among Asian Immigrant Women (N=396)

^†Homer and Lemeshow test: χ²=0.93(p = .968); ^‡Homer and Lemeshow test: χ²=6.54(p =.257); ^§Homer and Lemeshow test: χ²=1.95(p =.924); ^∥Homer and Lemeshow test: χ²=8.58(P= .127).

Notes

The research reported in this article was supported by a grant from the Health Promotion Fund, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic Korea (N0. 09-37).

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