Thesis (Ed. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, School of Education and Human Development, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Background: Compared to non-Latino whites, Latinos in the United States carry a disproportionate burden in mortality due to diabetes, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis, and there is evidence that immigrants’ health behaviors and outcomes worsen as they become more acculturated. Additionally, the neighborhoods where Latinos live influence their health behaviors and outcomes through availability of retailers and products (such as fast food restaurants, liquor stores), density of advertising and advertisement language, and whether the neighborhood is an ethnic enclave. In this work, I examine the effects of acculturation and these built environment factors on diet, BMI, and alcohol use in Dominican Latinas, with a focus on the potential interaction between individual- and neighborhood-level variables. Methods: Dominican Latinas over 40 were recruited from target neighborhoods in northern Manhattan and western Bronx as part of a larger study, and invited to complete a survey (N=420). I used mapping software (ArcGIS) to merge this survey data with intensive street audit data collected near participants’ residences (N=229 street sides). I supplemented the neighborhood audit with data from a reliable business database (ReferenceUSA). The analytical approach differed based on the structure of each hypothesized model. For moderated mediation models, I used a percentile bootstrap to obtain model estimates and confidence intervals at different percentiles of the moderator. For models without moderated mediation, I used OLS regression, logistic regression, or Poisson GLM, depending on the distribution of the outcome. Results: When analyzing diet and BMI outcomes, I found that negative influences in the built environment (such as fast food retailer density and processed food advertising in English and Spanish) were associated with higher BMI, but only in the least acculturated participants in the sample. There were no significant effects of positive influences in the built environment (such as fresh food retailers and fresh food advertisements) at any level of acculturation. For alcohol outcomes, less acculturated participants were less likely to report drinking, and this effect was strongest among those with greater alcohol retailer density near their residences. Number of Latino owned businesses (a measure of whether an area is an ethnic enclave) was sometimes protective and other times detrimental, depending on participant acculturation and the specific outcome measured. Conclusions: There is evidence that less acculturated Latinas are more susceptible to negative influences of the built environment than their more acculturated counterparts, and have higher BMIs due to these contextual factors. However, lower acculturation may be protective for alcohol outcomes. The effects of ethnic enclave neighborhoods on health are complex and dependent on both individual-level acculturation and the specific outcome investigated. The findings in this work highlight the importance of considering individual and contextual factors concurrently when modeling health behaviors and outcomes in Latinos.

My dissertation examines second generation Dominican high school students and their parents in a diverse, middle-class suburb. At a moment when immigrant families are arriving directly to suburban locations, and the number of second generation immigrants in our public schools is growing, it is important to examine how they are making sense of their experiences in this new context. In my study, I consider how one sub-group of Latinx high school students, with at least one parent born in the Dominican Republic, are experiencing a new place. Specifically, I look at their experiences within their community, school and family influence their assimilation processes, their ideas about future success, and the role of education in reaching that success. I also explore how the parents’ experiences in this community inform their definitions of success for their children and the role that education plays in achieving it, and how those beliefs affect their children. I examine the parents’ accounts through in-depth interviews and the students’ accounts through pre and post in-depth interviews two years apart, as well as photo elicitation interviews. I found that the location of this suburb, adjacent to an ethnic enclave, provides a context that supports the process of selective acculturation, whereby the students are learning English and American customs while also developing and maintaining their Dominican cultural practices, including speaking Spanish. I also uncovered nuances to their understanding of the role of education in securing future success, through the use of open-ended questions. I found that the students with college-educated parents were more cautious about believing in the American Dream, and the idea that education guarantees success. Despite this, all of the families in the study approached education in similar ways, a style typically attributed to low-income families. And lastly, I found that the families lacked the social and cultural capital to gain educational advantages, specifically in the college application process. My study challenges the assumption that immigrant families arriving to middle-class suburbs are equipped to take advantage of the resources that their place of residence can afford them. Living in this type of place signals an achievement of the American Dream, but we have to question whether their children will be able to maintain it.