The Influence of Intergenerational Acculturation and Stress on Pediatric Obesity in US Latinos: An Exploration Using Decision and Systems Sciences

Pediatric obesity continues to grow in the US Latino population. Previous work shows that child nativity status, often used as a proxy for acculturation status, may have an effect on pediatric weight status. However, little work has explored the relationship between caregiver nativity and child obesity status. Although there is some evidence that acculturation is linked with obesity, this is not known in a nationally representative sample, nor through interaction of caregiver and child acculturation. Our objective is to explore the relationship of acculturation and health outcomes, specifically pediatric obesity, focusing on how this relationship presents amongst Latino caregiver-child dyads. We complete this work through a mixed-methods approach combining decision and systems science tools to identify and visualize the associations across generations between acculturation, acculturation-related stress, and pediatric obesity.