Developing a Youth Participatory Action Research Program for Latine Youth in an Emerging Community.

In this practice note, we document the development of a youth participatory action research (YPAR) program designed by and for Latine youth residing in a small but rapidly growing Latine community. Our community-academic team partnered to cocreate a YPAR curriculum focused on supporting Latine youth in learning about research and developing their own research projects. Participants in the pilot year worked on Photovoice projects centered on topics they identified, including preventing colorism and machismo and increasing access to mental health services. We reviewed lessons learned from this work, including challenges engaging young people and creating linguistically inclusive spaces.

Generation, language, body mass index, and activity patterns in Hispanic children.

BACKGROUND: The acculturation hypothesis proposes an overall disadvantage in health outcomes for Hispanic immigrants with more time spent living in the U.S., but little is known about how generational status and language may influence Hispanic children's relative weight and activity patterns. PURPOSE: To investigate associations among generation and language with relative weight (BMI z-scores), physical activity, screen time, and participation in extracurricular activities (i.e., sports, clubs) in a U.S.-based, nationally representative sample of Hispanic children. METHODS: Participants included 2012 Hispanic children aged 6-11 years from the cross-sectional 2003 National Survey of Children's Health. Children were grouped according to generational status (first, second, or third), and the primary language spoken in the home (English versus non-English). Primary analyses included adjusted logistic and multinomial logistic regression to examine the relationships among variables; all analyses were conducted between 2008 and 2009. RESULTS: Compared to third-generation, English speakers, first- and second-generation, non-English speakers were more than two times more likely to be obese. Moreover, first-generation, non-English speakers were half as likely to engage in regular physical activity and sports. Both first- and second-generation, non-English speakers were less likely to participate in clubs compared to second- and third-generation, English speakers. Overall, non-English-speaking groups reported less screen time compared to third-generation, English speakers. CONCLUSIONS: The hypothesis that Hispanics lose their health protection with more time spent in the U.S. was not supported in this sample of Hispanic children.