A Study on the Health Risk Behaviors of Adolescents from Multicultural Families according to the Parents' Migration Background

Article information

Res Community Public Health Nurs. 2015;26(3):190-198
Publication date (electronic) : 2015 September 30
doi : https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2015.26.3.190
1Wolgye Elementary School, Ulsan, Korea.
2Department of Nursing, Dong Eui University, Busan, Korea.
Corresponding author: Kim, Myo Sung. Department of Nursing, Dong-Eui University, 176 Eomgwang-ro, Busanjin-gu, Busan 614-714, Korea. Tel: +82-51-890-2862, Fax: +82-51-890-2621, myosg@deu.ac.kr
Received 2015 April 30; Revised 2015 July 28; Accepted 2015 September 11.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to compare health risk behaviors among adolescents according to whether or not the parents were born in South Korea.

Methods

From the database of the ninth Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBS), the researchers classify adolescents into four groups: those whose parents were both native Korean, those whose mother only was a native Korean, those whose father only was a native Korean, and those whose parents were both foreign-born. Data were analyzed using χ2-test and multiple logistic regression with the SPSS/WIN 18.0 program.

Results

The adolescents with a foreign-born mother were less likely to smoke and drink alcohol than those with native Korean parents, but for other health risk behaviors the two groups were similar to each other. The adolescents with a foreign-born father were at a greater risk of drug use, intercourse, depression and violence at school than those with native Korean parents. The adolescents whose parents were born abroad were at a greater risk of smoking, drug use, intercourse, depression, suicidal ideation and violence at school than those with native Korean parents.

Conclusion

Health promotion approaches differentiated by the type of multi-cultural family are needed in order to improve multi-cultural adolescents' health.

References

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Article information Continued

Table 1

Characteristics of Sociodemographic by Parent's Country Origin among Adolescents (N=72,435)

Variables Categories A group B group C group D group x2 p
n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%)
Group sum 94 (100.0) 88 (100.0) 622 (100.0) 71,631 (100.0)
Region Metropolitan 33 (43.2) 44 (51.3) 160 (29.0) 32,303 (44.1) 139.67 <.001
Medium & small city 53 (50.8) 37 (45.3) 270 (51.5) 30,677 (49.1)
Rural 8 (6.0) 7 (3.4) 192 (19.5) 8,651 (6.8)
School type Middle school 38 (49.4) 39 (41.6) 393 (62.7) 36,060 (48.7) 75.96 <.001
General high school 21 (28.9) 35 (41.4) 156 (26.6) 28,908 (42.6)
Vocational high school 35 (21.7) 14 (17.0) 73 (10.7) 6,663 (8.7)
Gender Male 49 (53.5) 48 (55.7) 306 (50.7) 36,252 (52.3) 0.92 0.876
Female 45 (46.5) 40 (44.3) 316 (49.3) 35,379 (47.7)
Self-reported school achievement High 27 (33.9) 31 (33.7) 167 (24.8) 24,770 (34.7) 44.85 <.001
Medium 22 (21.1) 8 (10.1) 172 (28.5) 19,946 (28.1)
Low 45 (45.0) 49 (56.2) 283 (46.7) 26,915 (37.2)
Household economic status Upper 28 (37.7) 25 (29.9) 109 (18.8) 22,585 (32.4) 102.35 <.001
Medium 27 (29.1) 28 (32.4) 300 (47.2) 34,139 (47.4)
Lower 39 (33.2) 35 (37.7) 213 (34.0) 14,907 (20.2)
Living with parents None 14 (12.7) 12 (17.3) 12 (1.7) 2,374 (2.8) 140.78 <.001
One 18 (16.7) 34 (36.9) 93 (14.7) 10,181 (13.7)
Both 62 (70.6) 42 (45.8) 517 (83.6) 59,076 (83.5)
Father's education (year) ≤9 14 (13.9) 19 (22.0) 120 (18.2) 2,598 (3.4) 546.30 <.001
10~13 24 (23.0) 19 (20.7) 231 (40.4) 23,661 (33.2)
≥14 22 (25.1) 37 (43.6) 90 (17.6) 31,213 (48.1)
Unknown 34 (38.0) 13 (13.6) 139 (23.8) 10,938 (15.3)
Mother's education (year) ≤9 18 (21.4) 7 (15.1) 54 (7.5) 2,491 (3.2) 214.61 <.001
10~13 28 (21.7) 18 (29.2) 203 (32.7) 29,881 (43.0)
≥14 24 (30.0) 27 (45.7) 192 (31.9) 25,532 (38.9)
Unknown 24 (26.9) 8 (10.0) 173 (27.9) 10,646 (14.9)

n (%)=n: unweighted; %: weighted; A group=adolescents whose parents were born abroad; B group=adolescents whose only mother was native Korean; C group=adolescents whose only father was native Korea; D group=adolescents whose parents were native Korean.

Table 2

Characteristics of Health Behavior Factors by Parent's Country Origin among Adolescents (N=72,435)

Variables Categories A group B group C group D group x2 p
n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%)
Group sum 94 (100.0) 88 (100.0) 622 (100.0) 71,631 (100.0)
Smoking Yes 45 (46.6) 34 (39.1) 107 (17.6) 15,409 (21.4) 48.25 <.001
No 49 (53.4) 54 (60.9) 515 (82.4) 56,222 (78.6)
Alcohol use Yes 53 (51.1) 43 (54.1) 210 (33.6) 31,507 (43.5) 24.63 <.001
No 41 (48.9) 45 (45.9) 412 (66.4) 40,124 (56.5)
Drug use Yes 15 (19.6) 16 (24.2) 9 (1.8) 696 (1.0) 715.17 <.001
No 79 (80.4) 72 (75.8) 613 (98.2) 70,935 (99.0)
Sexual activity Yes 42 (48.3) 29 (39.2) 28 (4.9) 3,768 (5.3) 467.01 <.001
No 52 (51.7) 59 (60.8) 594 (95.1) 67,863 (94.7)
Depression Yes 45 (49.4) 46 (57.1) 186 (32.4) 22,153 (30.8) 39.59 <.001
No 49 (50.6) 42 (42.9) 436 (67.6) 49,478 (69.2)
Suicidal ideation Yes 29 (34.5) 20 (25.0) 110 (18.9) 11,911 (16.5) 24.05 <.001
No 65 (65.5) 68 (75.0) 512 (81.1) 59,720 (83.5)
Violence at school Yes 26 (32.5) 22 (28.4) 20 (3.5) 2,372 (3.3) 363.44 <.001
No 68 (67.5) 66 (71.6) 602 (96.5) 69,259 (96.7)
Internet overuse Yes 16 (18.6) 9 (8.2) 100 (16.2) 8,043 (11.3) 15.71 .002
No 78 (81.4) 79 (91.8) 522 (83.8) 63,588 (88.7)

n (%)=n: unweighted; %: weighted; A group=adolescents whose parents were born abroad; B group=adolescents whose only mother was native Korean; C group=adolescents whose only father was native Korea; D group=adolescents whose parents were native Korean.

Table 3

Health Risk Behavior by Parent's Country Origin (N=72,435)

Variables A group B group C group D group
aOR (CI) p aOR (CI) p aOR (CI) p
Smoking 2.84 (1.54~5.23) .001 1.24 (0.59~2.59) .557 0.70 (0.53~0.91) .010 1
Alcohol use 1.24 (0.70~2.18) .448 1.15 (0.61~2.16) .652 0.64 (0.51~0.80) <.001 1
Drug use 23.95 (11.25~50.98) <.001 15.24 (6.56~35.39) <.001 1.86 (0.85~4.06) .118 1
Sexual activity 14.86 (8.67~25.48) <.001 5.01 (2.53~9.93) <.001 1.01 (0.63~1.60) .972 1
Depression 2.10 (1.28~3.44) .003 3.44 (1.93~6.14) <.001 1.01 (0.79~1.28) .954 1
Suicidal ideation 2.43 (1.39~4.24) .002 0.97 (0.46~2.03) .938 1.07 (0.83~1.38) .558 1
Violence at school 13.24 (7.35~23.86) <.001 6.93 (3.24~14.81) <.001 1.01 (0.56~1.81) .976 1
Internet overuse 1.36 (0.70~2.64) .360 0.60 (0.23~1.54) .292 1.26 (0.95~1.67) .097 1

A group=adolescents whose parents were born abroad; B group=adolescents whose only mother was native Korean; C group=adolescents whose only father was native Korea; D group=adolescents whose parents were native Korean; Score is Logistic Regression Model with region, school type, self-reported school achievement, household economic status, living with parents, parent's education level as covariates