(P37-21-26) Maternal Acculturation, Acculturative Stress and Factors Related to Child Feeding in the HCHS/SOL and SOL FLOR Ancillary Study

Objectives: Assess the associations between maternal acculturation to US culture and acculturative stress with 1) caregiver feeding style, and 2) the home food environment.

Methods: Maternal acculturative stress, which results from the acculturation process, was assessed both continuously and in tertiles (low/medium/high) using the Maternal Acculturative Stress questionnaire and acculturation was measured using the language subscale of the Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics and the proxy of years lived in the US. Home food environment was measured using a Home Food Inventory. Logistic regression was used to assess cross-sectional associations between exposures and outcomes among n=251 mother-child dyads from HCHS/SOL Family Lifestyle Outcomes Research. Models were adjusted for site, income to poverty ratio, years in the US, and child age (3 to 9 years).

Results: Greater maternal acculturative stress was associated with a lower likelihood of an indulgent (OR=0.31; 95% CI: 0.14,0.73; p< 0.01) and uninvolved (OR=0.21; 95% CI: 0.07, 0.66; p< 0.01) versus authoritative feeding style. Maternal acculturation was not related to feeding style. Analysis by sex suggests the associations were only present among parents of girls. Compared to low maternal acculturative stress, a medium level of acculturative stress was associated with lower home availability of sugar-sweetened beverages (β=-0.51; 95% CI: -1.00, -0.02; p=0.04). Compared to low language acculturation, a medium language acculturation was associated with a greater home availability of sugar-sweetened beverages (β=0.52; 95% CI: 0.03, 1.02; p=0.04). Those living in the US more than 10 years reported fewer fruits and vegetables in the home (-1.52; 95%CI: -2.52, -0.52; p< 0.01).

Conclusions: Maternal acculturative stress and language acculturation are important factors associated with child feeding behaviors and home food availability and should be considered when planning interventions. The role of child sex should be further explored to understand differences in these associations.

Funding Sources: NIDDK, contracts from NHLBI and six other NIH institutes to University of North Carolina, University of Miami, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University, Chicago and San Diego State University. NY Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research.