Fitting into the society is a pressure to many US immigrants. And according to a study, they mostly opt for an American diet to feel a part of the American society. This directly leads to an increase in intake of calories.
The study which was published in June issue of the Psychological Science states that this could be one of the reasons for obesity in Immigrants within 15 years of relocating. The researchers for the purpose of the study questioned both Asian Americans and white college students about food related embarrassing situations. 68 percent of the Asian Americans mentioned a few insecurities pertaining to food such as using chopsticks where as only 27 percent of whites were able to think of food related insecurities.
The researchers further quizzed some participants about their fluency in English and their food choice while in others only food preference was asked. The researchers found that most of the Asian Americans who were asked about English fluency tended to pick an American food as favorite as opposed to only 25 percent who chose American food irrespective of not being asked about English. They also found that in whites, questioning about English did not make any difference to their food choice.
In a follow up study, it was found that when the Asian American's American identity was asked they ended up choosing typical American foods such as hamburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches over Asian food.
"People who feel like they need to prove they belong in a culture will change their habits in an attempt to fit in. If immigrants and their children choose unhealthy American foods over healthier traditional foods across their lives, this process of fitting in could lead to poorer health," said Sapna Cheryan, researcher and assistant professor of psychology at the University of Washington.
The study's findings stated, "In American society today, being American is associated with being white. Americans who don't fit this image even if they were born here and speak English feel that pressure to prove that they're American."
