Immigration et sport : l’impact de la pratique du soccer amateur sur l’intégration sociale des minorités à Montréal

Fondée sur une étude ethnographique de la pratique du soccer amateur au sein d’une population immigrante associée politiquement à des minorités visibles, discernables par rapport au groupe majoritaire que forment les Québécois francophones, cette thèse cherche à élucider le rapport pratique et fonctionnel entre corps, connaissance et société à la lumière de la théorie de la pratique élaborée par Bourdieu. Dans cette voie, elle cherche à concevoir la pratique sportive comme vecteur d’intégration sociale susceptible de former l’habitus propice à l’intégration, à la sociabilité et à la participation sociale requises pour développer le sentiment d’appartenance à la société d’accueil dans les rangs de ces sportifs. Dans la veine de la théorisation enracinée, et en s’appuyant sur l’observation systématique du style de jeu et des représentations sociales autour de l’intégration élaborés par un groupe d’adeptes du soccer dans une étude combinant observation, vidéo, notes de terrain et interviews, recueillies dans une ligue amateur de Montréal, la thèse a pour objectif de débusquer la logique sociale que sous-tend la pratique sportive en décelant le sens pratique à l’œuvre dans cette dimension de l’espace social. Sur la lancée, l’étude de la pratique du soccer et de la matérialité du corps de l’immigrant en tant que « fait social total » nous amène à concevoir l’intégration du nouveau venu à la société d’accueil comme la combinaison de l’« extériorité » et de l’« intériorité » responsable des dispositions propres à donner corps à l’intégration. On est fondé à penser que la pratique du sport permet à ses adeptes de nouer avec leurs vis-à-vis des relations sociales qui, leur conférant des positions distinctes et distinctives, permettent de comprendre et d’expliquer l’intégration par les enjeux que cela soulève. Sous ce chef, l’ethnicisation en acte dans ce contexte s’opère sous la médiation du corps conçu comme « vecteur de connaissances », « forme de présentation de soi » (Sayad, 1999, p. 301), et « emblème de l’ethnicité » (Defrance, 2009, p. 26). Le corps, aux yeux des joueurs et des supporteurs, devient objet de représentations fondées sur la performance sportive, le jugement de l’habileté physique et l’attitude personnelle comme indicateurs de la compétence du joueur et, plus généralement, les éléments symboliques nés de l’interaction sociale sur le terrain de jeu comme à l’extérieur. En dernière analyse, le soccer, par sa pratique, fait office de médiation, voire de levier, susceptible d’aplanir les entraves à l’intégration à la société d’accueil sous les traits de l’acculturation. La thèse au programme vient donc enrichir l’explication sociologique du processus d’intégration en contexte multiethnique à la lumière du concept d’habitus afin de concevoir théoriquement la dialectique entre acculturation et incorporation sous les traits d’un jeu de relations objectives en vertu duquel le participant s’y engage de son propre chef, sans être tout à fait conscient que par la pratique il est soumis au jugement social, à l’inculcation de dispositions culturellement légitimes, etc. Il s’en dégage l’hypothèse que le joueur de soccer manifeste la « connaissance par corps » que requiert son intégration à la société dans laquelle il a décidé d’évoluer de son plein gré (Bourdieu, 2003). La pratique sportive se révèle donc une « stratégie identitaire synthétique » susceptible de mettre au diapason son identité et les « conditions objectives d’existence » du milieu auquel il est en passe de s’intégrer (Manço, 1999).

La lutte pour la reconnaissance des Québécoises de 2e génération portant le voile

Ce mémoire vise à comprendre l’expérience de vie des jeunes Québécoises de 2e génération portant le voile islamique, qui ont vécu le débat sur la charte de la laïcité au Québec en 2012. Un des articles de ce projet de loi visait à interdire le port des signes religieux «ostentatoires» par les employés de la fonction publique. Une vague de protestation a animé les membres des minorités religieuses visées et une apparition, quoique marginale, des Québécois de 2e génération a commencé à émerger. À travers le concept de lutte pour la reconnaissance tel que théorisé par Honneth et celui de stigmate amené par Goffman et élaboré par Göle, j’ai tenté de comprendre l’expérience de lutte pour la reconnaissance entamée par des Québécoises porteuses d’un signe religieux stigmatisé. Le concept d’hybridité m’a permis également de comprendre la richesse identitaire de ces jeunes qui se manifeste notamment dans l’articulation de leurs revendications. J’ai ainsi mené 13 entrevues semi dirigées sur le mode du récit de vie avec des jeunes femmes âgées entre 19 et 27 ans, nées au Québec et portant le voile islamique.

Activism and participation among people of migrant background : discourses and practices of inclusiveness in four italian cities

Alors que l’intérêt pour les processus d’intégration des immigrants et des minorités ethniques est en pleine croissance parmi les chercheurs européens, les facteurs qui expliquent les différentes formes de participation civique et politique doivent être examinés plus en profondeur. Prenant pour base la littérature sur l’immigration, cette étude examine la question de recherche suivante: Comment peut-on expliquer les variations des formes de participation civique et politique des activistes issus de l’immigration au niveau local? Afin de répondre à cette question, cette étude identifie les formes de participation de la part d’activistes issus de l’immigration dans quatre villes Italiennes et examine les discours et les pratiques de multiples acteurs impliqués dans le domaine de l’immigration dans un contexte national d’hostilité croissante. Cette thèse soutient que pour comprendre différentes formes de participation, il est important de considérer non seulement l’État et les acteurs institutionnels, mais aussi les acteurs non-institutionnels et examiner comment ces derniers influencent les opportunités ainsi que les restrictions à la participation. Par ailleurs, cette recherche examine les canaux conventionnels et non-conventionnels dans quatre villes italiennes et étudie les activistes issus de l’immigration comme des acteurs politiques pertinents, capables de se mobiliser et d’influencer la participation à travers leur interaction et alliances avec les acteurs de la société d’accueil. Cette recherche a permis de produire trois résultats. Le premier montre que les approches d’intégration adoptées par les acteurs sont importantes. Cette étude a identifié trois approches d’intégration: 1) « welfariste », basée sur l’idée que les immigrants sont dans le besoin et doivent donc recevoir des services; 2) interculturelle, basée sur l’idée que les immigrants sont de futurs citoyens et que l’intégration est réciproque; 3) promotion des droits politiques, basée sur l’idée que les immigrants ont des droits politiques fondamentaux ; et qui encourage l’ouverture des canaux de participation politique, surtout aux immigrants privés du droit de vote local. L’analyse empirique démontre que, alors que l’approche welfariste n’encourage pas la participation parce qu’elle conçoit les immigrants comme des acteurs passifs, les autres deux approches ont respectivement un impact sur les formes de participation civique et politique. La deuxième conclusion souligne le rôle des acteurs de gauche. En particulier, cette étude montre que les acteurs qui ouvrent de canaux pour la participation ne sont pas uniquement les acteurs de gauche modérée, comme les autorités locales, les partis politiques et les syndicats, mais aussi les groupes de gauche radicale et non-institutionnelle. Chaque acteur de gauche comprend et agit différemment par rapport aux sujets de l’immigration et de la participation et ce fait influence comment les activistes issues de l’immigration se mobilisent. La troisième conclusion met en évidence le rôle de la perception des opportunités par les activistes issus de l’immigration et la façon avec laquelle ils s’approprient les discours et les pratiques des acteurs de gauche. Ce travail démontre que l’ouverture de canaux est possible grâce à l’engagement de personnes issues de l’immigration qui agissent à travers les opportunités qui leurs sont offertes, créent des alliances avec la gauche et défient les discours et pratiques des acteurs locaux.

Immigration et insertion professionnelle : le cas des Haïtiens arrivés au Québec après le tremblement de terre de 2010.

Ce mémoire porte sur la question de l’insertion sur le marché du travail, des Haïtiens arrivés au Québec après le tremblement de terre désastreux qui frappa Haïti le 12 janvier 2010. Notre objectif est d'analyser la trajectoire professionnelle de ce groupe et de déterminer les difficultés rencontrées au cours de leur projet d'insertion en emploi. Notre projet s’inscrit dans le cadre de l'approche plurielle développée par Victor Piché qui propose de porter attention à la fois aux facteurs macro-structurels, micro-individuels et à la force du réseau, dans l'étude du phénomène migratoire et du processus d'intégration de la personne immigrante au sein du pays d'accueil. Dans le cadre de ce mémoire, nous avons choisi de réaliser des entretiens avec douze immigrants haïtiens. Cela nous a permis de recueillir des informations de première main sur les différents éléments qui les ont amenés à la décision d'immigrer au Québec et sur leurs parcours sur le marché du travail dans le pays d’accueil. Il ressort des entretiens que l'évaluation que font les répondants du bon déroulement de leur intégration socio-professionnelle dépend particulièrement de facteurs micro-individuels tels que : la maitrise des langues officielles, la connaissance des stratégies favorisant l'insertion en emploi, la connaissance des pratiques locales et du fonctionnement du marché du travail et le statut d'immigration. Très peu des immigrants haïtiens que nous avons rencontrés ont abordé la question de la discrimination, notamment parce qu’ils semblent avoir intégré le discours sur la compétition et l'individualisation et ramènent à des facteurs individuels les succès et les échecs qu'ils ont connus lors de la recherche d'emploi. En d’autres mots, les personnes interrogées semblent avoir intériorisé le discours sur « la lutte des places » les enjoignant à ne pas se contenter « d'être bon », mais d’être « le/la meilleur(e) » pour pouvoir concurrencer les "Québécois de souche" sur le marché de l'emploi.

Race and discourse analysis: Building a dialogue in health service research and health care settings

Using a framework for discourse analysis developed by Van Dijk, the investigator will pinpoint the pathological forms of discourse on race, defined as 'race talk' in three professional domains: health services research, public health provider organizations, and literature on multiculturalism. Attention will then turn to developing an analytical strategy for building more meaningful dialogue on race. The retrieval of potential resources for dialogue will be drawn from the third domain. Analysis will focus on enhancing the prospects of converting 'race talk' into dialogue. This will be accomplished by characterizing the normative preconditions as formal procedural requirements for dialogue and then supplementing these conditions with others related specifically to race. From here, the practical implications of combining procedural requirements and resources in each of the domains will be considered. Finally, the author will attempt to determine how these selected resources might be employed to transform 'race talk' in practice and lay the groundwork for a dialogue of understanding. ^

Evaluating the relative status of health and safety programs for minority academic and research institutions

A variety of occupational hazards are indigenous to academic and research institutions, ranging from traditional life safety concerns, such as fire safety and fall protection, to specialized occupational hygiene issues such as exposure to carcinogenic chemicals, radiation sources, and infectious microorganisms. Institutional health and safety programs are constantly challenged to establish and maintain adequate protective measures for this wide array of hazards. A unique subset of academic and research institutions are classified as historically Black universities which provide educational opportunities primarily to minority populations. State funded minority schools receive less resources than their non-minority counterparts, resulting in a reduced ability to provide certain programs and services. Comprehensive health and safety services for these institutions may be one of the services compromised, resulting in uncontrolled exposures to various workplace hazards. Such a result would also be contrary to the national health status objectives to improve preventive health care measures for minority populations.^ To determine if differences exist, a cross-sectional survey was performed to evaluate the relative status of health and safety programs present within minority and non-minority state-funded academic and research institutions. Data were obtained from direct mail questionnaires, supplemented by data from publicly available sources. Parameters for comparison included reported numbers of full and part-time health and safety staff, reported OSHA 200 log (or equivalent) values, and reported workers compensation experience modifiers. The relative impact of institutional minority status, institution size, and OSHA regulatory environment, was also assessed. Additional health and safety program descriptors were solicited in an attempt to develop a preliminary profile of the hazards present in this unique work setting.^ Survey forms were distributed to 24 minority and 51 non-minority institutions. A total of 72% of the questionnaires were returned, with 58% of the minority and 78% of the non-minority institutions participating. The mean number of reported full-time health and safety staff for the responding minority institutions was determined to be 1.14, compared to 3.12 for the responding non-minority institutions. Data distribution variances were stabilized using log-normal transformations, and although subsequent analysis indicated statistically significant differences, the differences were found to be predicted by institution size only, and not by minority status or OSHA regulatory environment. Similar results were noted for estimated full-time equivalent health and safety staffing levels. Significant differences were not noted between reported OSHA 200 log (or equivalent) data, and a lack of information provided on workers compensation experience modifiers prevented comparisons on insurance premium expenditures. Other health and safety program descriptive information obtained served to validate the study's presupposition that the inclusion criteria would encompass those organizations with occupational risks from all four major hazard categories. Worker medical surveillance programs appeared to exist at most institutions, but the specific tests completed were not readily identifiable.^ The results of this study serve as a preliminary description of the health and safety programs for a unique set of workplaces have not been previously investigated. Numerous opportunities for further research are noted, including efforts to quantify the relative amount of each hazard present, the further definition of the programs reported to be in place, determination of other means to measure health outcomes on campuses, and comparisons among other culturally diverse workplaces. ^

Linkage and association of candidate obesity genes in Mexican-Americans from Starr County, Texas

Obesity and related chronic diseases represent a tremendous public health burden among Mexican Americans, a young and rapidly-expanding population. This study investigated the impact of variation within eight candidate obesity genes, which include leptin (LEP), leptin receptor (LEPR), neuropeptide Y (NPY), NPYY1 receptor (NPYY1), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), GLP-1 receptor (GLP1R), beta-3 adrenergic receptor (β3AR), and uncoupling protein (UCP1), on variation in human obesity status and/or quantitative traits related to obesity in Mexican Americans from Starr County, Texas. The Trp64Arg polymorphism within β3AR was typed in 820 random individuals and 240 pedigrees (N = 2,044). The Arg allele frequency was significantly greater in obese versus non-obese individuals (0.20 versus 0. 15, respectively). In addition, within the random sample, the Arg allele was associated with significantly greater body weight (p = 0.031) and body mass index (BMI, p = 0.008) than the Trp allele. In the family sample, the Trp64Arg locus was also linked to percent fat (p = 0.045) but not to body weight or BMI. No linkage between obesity, diabetes, hypertension, or gallbladder disease and the Trp64Arg mutation was observed in families using affected sib pair linkage analysis or the transmission disequilibrium test. Microsatellite markers proximate to the remaining seven genes were typed in 302 individuals from 59 families. Sib pair linkage analysis provided evidence for linkage between obesity and NPY within affected sibling pairs (p = 0.042; n = 170 pairs). NPY was also linked to weight (p = 0.020), abdominal circumference (p = 0.031), hip circumference (p = 0.012), DBP (p ≤ 0.005), and a composite measure of body mass/fat (p ≤ 0.048) in all sibling pairs (n = 545 pairs). Additionally, LEP was linked to waist/hip ratio (p ≤ 0.009), total cholesterol (p ≤ 0.030), and HDL cholesterol (p ≤ 0.026), and LEPR was linked to fasting blood glucose (p ≤ 0.018) and DBP (p ≤ 0.003). Subsequent to the linkage analyses, the NPY gene was sequenced and eight variant sites identified. Two variant sites (-880I/D and 69I/D) were typed in a random sample of 914 individuals. The 880I/D variant was significantly associated with waist/hip ratio (p = 0.035) in the entire sample (N = 914) and with BMI (p = 0. 031), abdominal circumference (p = 0.044), and waist/hip ratio (p = 0.041) in a non-obese subsample (BW < 30 kg/m2, n = 594). The 69I/D variant was a rare mutation observed in only one pedigree and was not associated with obesity or body size/mass within this pedigree. Results of this study indicate that variation at or near β3AR, LEP, LEPR, and NPY may exert effects which increase obesity susceptibility and influence obesity-related measures in this population. ^

Association between temperament and physical activity in a population of minority women

Physical activity has been, and remains, a significant public health issue. Thus, increasing physical activity has been identified as a top priority according to Healthy People 2010. Various behavioral variables have been associated with participation in physical activity, including the Type A behavior pattern (TABP). This study was a secondary data analysis of the Women On The Move pilot study data and examined the relationship between Type A behavior with physical activity. The study population consisted of fifty-six (56) adult minority women 40 years of age and above. The Thurstone Activity Scale was adapted for use in this study to measure TABP. Physical activity behavior was measured using an accelerometer (Computer Science Application, [CSA]) and a physical activity diary. All study questions were examined using multiple linear regression analysis. In all analyses age, household income, and level of education were entered as covariates. The results found no association with TABP and exercise or physical activity. More research involving a larger, more active study population is recommended in order to more precisely determine the relationship of TABP and physical activity. ^

Assessing perceptions of environmental risk and environmental justice and their impacts on neighborhood attachment in a predominately Hispanic community

This study examines and relates concepts from environmental risk perception and environmental justice and focuses on the perception of environmental problems, their consequent health risks and their impact on neighborhood attachment in a predominately Hispanic community along the U.S.-Mexico border. The findings indicate that the perception of environmental problems in the immediate area varies by problem and demographic subgroup. Ethnicity and income have the highest number of statistically significant associations across ten environmental problems. This result lies in the fact that Hispanics in El Paso County and those with low annual incomes live in neighborhoods that are faced with more severe environmental problems. Thus the findings lend support to the environmental justice claim that the poor and minorities bear the brunt of environmental degradation. ^ The findings also provide evidence that public perception of health risks from an environmental problem is influenced by the perceived severity of an environmental problem in the immediate area. Those who believe the problem is serious on a local level are the ones who are most likely to believe that they could become ill or injured from that problem and that the illness/injury will be serious. ^ The findings of this study also indicate that the young, Hispanics, those who perceive considerable environmental problems in their neighborhood, those who believe that their neighborhood has more environmental problems than others, and those who are angry about those problems are most likely to want to move from their neighborhood. ^ Efforts need to be made to enact policies and programs designed to reduce the environmental hazards in disadvantaged Hispanic communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Future environmental education campaigns need to complement community-based projects with the media. Programs that involve and empower the community, particularly the youth, in improving the neighborhood could provide a sense of control and pride within their community in solving these problems. These neighborhood improvement efforts could also lead to the development and strengthening of social ties within the community, as well as enhanced community cohesiveness in tackling these problems. ^

Is low parental education associated with congenital heart defects?

Objective. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are associations between low parental education and congenital heart defects. ^ Methods. This was a cross-sectional study of 281,262 live born singletons, 1765 of whom were identified by the Texas Birth Defects Monitoring Division (TBDMD) as having heart defects without known chromosomal anomalies. Data on the specific diagnoses of these infants were linked to their corresponding birth certificates. Only infants born between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 1997, whose mothers resided in the Texas public health regions under surveillance by the TBDMD were included in the study. The number of years of schooling of the most educated parent was used to calculate crude, stratified and adjusted odds ratios. ^ Results. An increase in the likelihood of having an infant with any type of congenital heart defect was found among parents with less than 16 years of education, compared to those with 16 or more years of schooling. The association became more marked with increasing paternal age, and was found among whites and Hispanics but not among blacks. Statistically significant associations with low parental education were found for ventricular septal defects, transposition of the great vessels and miscellaneous heart and vessel defects. Among whites, there was an inverse association between parental education and likelihood of having an infant with a severe ASD. This association was not found among non-whites. The suggestion of an association between low parental education and tetralogy of Fallot, was also found, but was not statistically significant. Parents with ≥16 years of education had a greater likelihood of having an infant with severe endocardial cushion lesions or total anomalous pulmonary return than less well educated parents. ^ Conclusion. This study suggests that parental education is associated with certain types of heart defects, especially among whites and Hispanics. ^

Depressive symptoms and sexual risk behaviors in adolescents

The purpose of this study was to determine whether depression is a factor in explaining the difference in sex behaviors among adolescents with different ethnic backgrounds, family and school contexts. We hypothesize that adolescents with a higher number of depressive symptoms are more likely to engage in sexual risk behaviors than adolescents with fewer depressive symptoms. Further, adolescent depression and sexual behaviors are mediated or moderated by individual characteristics, family and school contexts. ^ Background. large ethnic disparities exist in adolescent engagement in risky sexual behaviors, yet, there is little in the literature that explains these disparities. Studies of sexual behavior of youths abound; yet, there is little literature on the prevalence and correlates of depression or the association between depression and sexual behaviors among different ethnic groups. Objectives. (1) To determine ethnic differences in the prevalence of depressive symptoms using data collected through the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). (2) To determine predictors of sex risk behaviors among adolescents, including the role of depression. (3) To identify predictors of depression among these adolescents. Methods. Add Health data from wave 1 and wave 2 interviews of 7th–12th graders were analyzed using multivariate models constructed with both depression and sexual behavior as outcome variables. Logistic regression models determined whether and to what extent the independent variables, including depression, sex behaviors, demographic factors, individual and family characteristics, and school context were related to the probability of engaging in risky sexual behaviors. Results. Ethnic differences in depressive symptoms did not persist after demographic and contextual variables were included in the model. Sex behaviors all shared the hypothesized relationship with depressive symptoms. The odds of risky sex behaviors increased as number of depressive symptoms increased. Depression was predicted by marijuana use and having a serious argument with father for males at Wave 1 and by age and future orientation for females. Wave 2 depression was predicted by Wave 1 depression. ^

Sociodemographic characteristics as predictors of successful smoking cessation among a group of Hispanic Spanish speaking smokers

Few studies have examined predictors of smoking abstinence among Hispanic groups. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the relations of sociodemographic characteristics and smoking related factors with smoking abstinence among a group of Hispanic Spanish speaking smokers. This study utilized previously collected data from Hispanic Spanish-speaking smokers (N = 246) who participated in a study entitled Smoking Cessation Services for Hispanic Smokers in Texas. ^ The first study examined sociodemographic characteristics and smoking related mechanisms that predicted smoking abstinence among this group. Two of the characteristics were related to smoking abstinence, marital status and acculturation level. Being unmarried increased the likelihood of being abstinent at the 12 week assessment (OR = 1.80). Those in the high acculturation group were twice as likely to be abstinent (OR = 2.24). Of the smoking related mechanisms, those with higher positive reinforcement expectancies were less likely to be abstinent (OR = .86), as were those with a higher level of affiliative attachment (OR = .86), a higher level of craving (OR = .78) and a higher tolerance to the effect of smoking (OR = .74). The second study was to examine the relationship of objective measures of socioeconomic status (SES) (income, education, or employment) with smoking abstinence among this group. This study also compared the relationship of a subjective measure of SES (Social Status Ladder) to smoking abstinence. None of the objective measures of SES were related to smoking abstinence at the 12 week assessment. The subjective measure of SES did predict smoking abstinence (OR = 1.9) indicting that those that rated themselves ≤4 on the SES scale were more likely to be abstinent. ^ Although this group was recruited using various methods across the state of Texas, the fact that they preferred to interact with the counselor in Spanish may limit the study findings. The results of this study highlight the need for research to examine specific subgroups of people and understand the special circumstances that influence their health behaviors. Furthering our knowledge of the relations between sociodemographic characteristics and smoking cessation could lead to interventions that reduce disparities in smoking cessation. ^

Factors influencing time to HIV disease progression in Romanian children

The purpose of this research was two-fold; to investigate the effect of institutionalization on death and CD4 decline in a cohort of 325 HIV-infected Romanian children, and to investigate the effect of disclosure of the child's own HIV status in this cohort. All children were treated with Kaletra-based highly active antiretroviral therapy, and were followed from November, 2001 through October, 2004. The mean age of the children included in the cohort is 13. The study found that children in biological families were more likely to experience disease progression through either death or CD4 decline than children in institutions (p=0.04). The family home-style institution may prove to be a replicable model for the safe and appropriate care of HIV-infected orphaned and abandoned children and teens. The study also found that children who do not know their own HIV infection status were more likely to experience disease progression through either death or CD4 decline than children who know their HIV diagnosis (p=0.03). This evidence suggests that, in the context of highly active anti retroviral therapy, knowledge of one's own HIV infection status is associated with delayed HIV disease progression. ^

The global initiative to eradicate polio- A review of Nigeria's situation

Poliomyelitis is one of the worlds remaining vaccine preventable infectious diseases. In 1988 the World Health Assembly in its general assembly resolved to eradicate polio in the year 2000 and the Global Initiative to Eradicate Polio was launched. ^ This initiative sprang from the successful eradication of smallpox from the world in the year 1979, and the World Health Organization sought to eradicate polio from the world's populations by the year 2000. ^ Several years have passed since this objective was launched, and while some advances have been made, the goal of global eradication remains elusive. At this present time (2007), only four countries are considered polio endemic regions (areas in which the transmission of wild poliovirus has never been truncated). These countries are Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. ^ This descriptive study seeks to examine the process and progress of polio eradication worldwide, with particular emphasis on the polio eradication efforts in Nigeria, problems encountered and progress that has been made towards attaining this goal. ^ The methodology of this study is an extensive examination of documentation and data from the Global Initiative to Eradicate Poliomyelitis (GPEI), the World Health Organization through the World Health Organization Library Information Service (WHOLIS), UNICEF, the Centers for Disease Control and related peer reviewed journals. ^

Differences in small-for-gestational-age and preterm birth among Asian subgroups in relation to nativity status

This retrospective cohort study examined the association between nativity status and very preterm birth, preterm birth, and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) among Asian subgroups using Texas birth certificate data with no personal identifiers. A total of 877,322 birth certificates of Asian and US-born white women with a singleton birth in Texas from 2001-2004 were analyzed. Birth certificate records of US-born white, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Asian Indian women with a singleton birth were included in the analysis. Logistic regressions models were used to explore and understand the differences of the effect of nativity status on birth outcomes in Asian subgroups with US-born whites as the reference group. Most of the Asian subgroups had a lower risk of preterm births compared with US born whites, with reductions in risk ranging from 19% to 49% and the lowest risk of preterm birth observed among foreign-born Chinese mothers. Only Filipino mothers had a higher risk of preterm birth compared to US-born whites. Overall, foreign-born Asians had lower risks for very preterm birth and preterm birth than US-born Asians and US-born whites. US-born Asians were at higher risk for preterm birth than US-born whites. For SGA, all Asian subgroups and Asian subgroups by nativity status were at higher risk of SGA than US-born whites. Asian Indians and Japanese were at highest risk for SGA infants with 2.5 to 3 times the risk of SGA present in US-born whites. Foreign-born Asian women were at higher risk for SGA than their US-born counterparts. This study showed that health disparities among Asian subgroups are hidden by classifying Asians into a single group. By examining Asian subgroups separately and looking at nativity status, the differences in risk of SGA and preterm birth can be revealed so prevention efforts can focus on high risk groups. ^