Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Aim</jats:title><jats:p>The aim of the present study was to examine migration‐ and socioeconomic‐related influences on obesity among <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>frican migrant adolescents in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">M</jats:styled-content>elbourne, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>ustralia.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>Anthropometric data were collected from 99 parents and 100 adolescent offspring who also completed questionnaires eliciting demographic, socioeconomic and migration data. Multiple linear regressions were used to assess the relationship between migration‐ and socioeconomic‐related factors and adolescent body mass index (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content>).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Only gender and parental <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content> were associated with adolescent <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content> after adjusting for adolescent age, adolescent gender, religion, parental <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content>, parental education level and annual income. Boys (β = −1.45; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.05) had lower <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content> than girls. Parental and adolescent <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content> were positively associated (β = 0.11; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.05). In examining migration‐related factors and adolescent <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content>, after adjusting for gender and parental <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content>, parental acculturation patterns and pre‐migration life environment were associated with adolescent <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content>, explaining, respectively, 6.5 and 4.0% of the variance in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content>. An integrated parental acculturation pattern was negatively associated with adolescent <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content> (β = −0.17; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.05) while adolescents whose parents came from rural areas had a higher <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content> (β = 1.48; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < 0.05) than those whose parents came from urban areas. Adolescent acculturation patterns and length of stay in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>ustralia were non‐significantly associated with their <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BMI</jats:styled-content>.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Gender, pre‐migration life environment and parental acculturation patterns seem to influence the prevalence of overweight and obesity among <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>frican migrant adolescents. Culturally competent obesity prevention programmes targeted towards <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>frican adolescents should consider these aspects in their design and delivery; however, further research is required to determine their relative contributions to <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>frican adolescent obesity in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>ustralia.</jats:p></jats:sec>