Anahí Viladrich

Determinants of Latina obesity in the United States: the role of selective acculturation.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Hispanic American women in particular have higher rates of obesity than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. In this article, the authors review the existing literature on acculturation as it relates to obesity and health behaviors among U.S. Hispanic women. In addition, a conceptual framework is proposed to examine factors contributing to obesity through “selective acculturation.” This concept challenges traditionally held unilateral assumptions that underscore Hispanic womens unhealthful behavioral patterns by explaining a process whereby Hispanic women both maintain some older health-related behaviors and acquire new ones once they settle in a new culture.

“Do Real Women Have Curves?” Paradoxical Body Images among Latinas in New York City

This paper examines Latinas’ assessments of their individual body shape and weight vis-à-vis their beliefs and attitudes regarding mainstream and alternative body images. A mixed method data collection system was used based on individual instruments and focus group guidelines. While individual measures revealed participants’ preference for thinner body types than what they actually considered themselves to be, group data underscore contradictory body paradigms, defined as Latinas’ Paradoxical Body Images (LAPABI). Findings suggest the prevalence of a mainstream stereotype represented by the fit/thin White woman as the ultimate body ideal, along with the Latina curvy shape as its counter-image. The paper further discusses the importance of the media, and of divergent cultural values, in supporting these co-existing body ideals, as well as the need for more studies addressing their combined effect on Latinas’ obesity patterns and their weight-control efforts.

Tango Immigrants in New York City The Value of Social Reciprocities

The recent global renaissance of tango dancing has been accompanied by the emergence of a thriving tango economy in New York City (NYC) that has encouraged the arrival of Argentine tango dancers and amateurs artists (tango immigrants) in recent years. This article builds on social capital theory to examine the importance of the Manhattan tango world as a reservoir for social resources (e.g., health information, contact for jobs, referrals) to satisfy their members’ social and health needs. Tango immigrants seek informal access to health care through the assistance of health practitioners belonging to their tango networks (tango brokers), a relevant issue given the fact that many artists are uninsured and depend on their physical labor to perform. This article’s ultimate goal is aimed at providing a theoretical contribution to our understanding of contemporary entertainment forms as ethnic social niches for immigrants’ informal access to valued resources via interpersonal relationships.

Barriers and Facilitating Factors Affecting Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the current fruit and vegetable consumption level in the United States and analyzes how it compares to the dietary guidelines promulgated by the US government. A healthy diet includes eating fruits and vegetables. Although many people experience barriers inhibiting fruit and vegetable consumption, facilitators also exist that promote fruit and vegetable consumption. Fruit and vegetable consumption can be measured in many ways, such as number of times eaten daily, number of cups, and number of servings. The US government publishes the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, sets public health dietary goals in documents such as Healthy People 2010, conducts nutritional surveillance and surveys to assess if the population is meeting these guidelines, and plans food and nutrition education programs following these recommendations. Recommendations for an individual’s fruit and vegetable consumption are based on the Dietary Guidelines and are published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for public use in the form of the online educational tool “MyPyramid.” Of all age groups, children aged 2–3 years are most likely to meet current fruit and vegetable consumption guidelines, with an estimated 48% of children meeting the combined recommendation of 1 cup daily. Fruit and vegetable consumption also varies across other demographic characteristics. Non-Hispanic blacks are significantly less likely to meet USDA guidelines than whites. Latinos report higher intakes of fruits and vegetables than whites and blacks, but this has also been reported to be a decreasing effect when compared to social acculturation.

Fernando Chang-Muy, Elaine P. Congress (eds): Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees. Legal Issues, Clinical Skills and Advocacy

The authors in this edited volume provide insightful perspectives on the often dilemmatic issues brought up by the needs of immigrants and refugees in the US. Although at first glance this book could appear as a review of much of what it already known on the topic, this proves to be a faulty assumption once readers immerse themselves in the chapters’ contents. In fact, the authors provide a unique contribution to the literature by singling out the specific lessons learned from social work research, theory and practice. But rather than concocting a ‘‘how to do’’ manual, the volume conspicuously addresses the conflicting demands that social service professionals face, particularly when dealing with unprecedented situations experienced by refugee and immigrant populations in the US. The latter include the raids by agents from the Bureau of Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which have lately led to the detention and deportation of thousands of immigrants, and the complex liaisons between preand post-migration issues. Each chapter in this volume successfully leads the audience to fully grasp the materials by offering concrete lessons that reveal a human face. From helping an undocumented single mother apply for health benefits, to developing culturally meaningful guidelines to address refugees’ needs, the book raises provocative questions regarding the increasing challenges that social workers encounter, particularly in a context of immigrants’ limited access to social and health benefits. On this line, the book discusses immigrants’ physical and mental health issues vis-à-vis the legal and structural barriers to health care, particularly after the passage of the so called Welfare reform in 1996, along with the impact of fear and misconceptions regarding eligibility for benefits. The book’s diverse themes are organized according to distinct areas that include legal classifications of immigrant status—which are the basis for immigrants and refugees’ disparate access to rights and benefits; physical and metal health issues; cultural competence; and the special needs experienced by vulnerable immigrant populations in the US. Among the latter, chapters explore the challenges involved in helping criminally charged immigrants, the special needs of lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender immigrants, and the intricacies of designing tailored interventions for older adult immigrants in the US. From dealing with seasonal workers to the intricacies of intracompany transferees, the authors do not hesitate to provide a myriad of life scenarios and controversial legal issues. As a whole, this book allows a step-by-step immersion into the elaborate world of legal and social categories that affect the lives of newcomers and their families in the US. Additionally, not only does this book deal with practical issues by also with conceptual and theoretical ones. Hostility to immigrants and confusing policies should inspire social service professionals towards the design of innovative theories and concepts able to grasp the unseen challenges that immigrants face, and will probably continue to face, in the twenty-first century. Particularly, the volume reviews main conceptual approaches (e.g., empowerment and ecosystems theory) that examine the effects of social oppression on immigrants and refugees, while supporting a more democratic distribution of social power. The book’s underlying conceptual framework is rooted in a general commitment to human rights and social advocacy. For example, references to the violence against women act A. Viladrich (&) Urban Public Health Program, Immigration and Health Initiative (IAHI), Hunter College of the City University of New York, Brookdale Campus, 425 East 25th Street, W 1021, New York, NY 10010, USA e-mail: aviladri@hunter.cuny.edu