| Childhood obesity is a critical public health threat worldwide. Children of immigrants appear to be more vulnerable to obesity and unhealthy eating in the U.S. compared to children born to natives; however, little attention has been paid to Chinese American children or children of Chinese immigrants. This dissertation represented an initial step in understanding the food-related parenting experiences, and beliefs and practices, and the unique sociocultural contexts of Chinese immigrant families with young children utilizing a mixed-method design across three manuscripts. The first paper was a literature review, which utilized Bronfenbrenner's (1994) ecological model as a theoretical framework to identify and discuss different factors and mediating and moderating processes that may place Chinese U.S. immigrant children at risk for being overweight/ obese. The second paper assessed food-related feeding practices among Chinese immigrant mothers through qualitative focus groups in order to capture culturally-derived practices during parent-child food related interactions. Finally, the third paper examined parent-child food related interactions and mechanisms in predicting child dietary intake within and across 3 groups of Chinese mothers in the U.S. and urban China. Overall, the three papers of this dissertation project contributed to the current literature by identifying important processes that may lead to childhood obesity towards the larger goal of seeking solutions to this urgent global issue. |
