From: TIME
Do Immigrant Kids Get Fat to Fit In?
May 7, 2011
TIME:
Many foreign-born American citizens have said they feel that their fellow U.S. citizens question their Americanness. This spurning can be particularly difficult for immigrants’ U.S.-born children: some Asian-American kids, for instance, have sought plastic surgery or blue contact lenses to give their eyes a more “American” appearance. Now comes evidence that immigrants’ kids may even eat more in an effort to fit in with U.S.-born kids, which is to say they try to be fat.
The study, which will be published next month in Psychological Science, notes that by the late 1990s, 27% of Asian-American teens born to immigrant Asian parents were obese, compared with 25% of white American adolescents.
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Comments
I don’t know that kids are conciously trying to gain weight to fit in with their peers. They are probably just getting into the same habits as their American peers – processed foods and inactivity. Be a healthy role model for your kids: http://blog.mydiscoverhealth.com/
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