Project Description: Smoking among the Surinamese, Turkish
and Moroccan population: the role of acculturation in smoking
behaviour.
Start date: 1 December 1998
End date: 1 December 2002
The so-called Western lifestyle, including smoking, a high
alcohol and fat consumption and a lack of physical exercise,
is far less prevalent in countries where most immigrants residing
in the Netherlands are born, such as Surinam, Turkey and Morocco.
As immigration will often be accompanied by a change in health-related
behaviour in response to the changing cultural context, one
might expect the migrants from these countries to adopt some
Western behavioural practices. In the Netherlands very little
is known about the prevalence of health-related behaviour in
immigrant groups, let alone about how it has changed between
the first and second generation or with an increased length
of stay. In my research project the changes in health-related
behaviour among three large groups of immigrants in the Netherlands
will be studied (Surinamese, Maroccon and Turkish people).
As these changes cannot be isolated from the processes immigrants
undergo on a more general level, the underlying! ! processes
will also be studied. These relate to their cultural/ethnic
and socio-economic position. The first aim is to identify the
differences in smoking behaviour and in the determinants of
that smoking behaviour between the Dutch population and the
Surinamese, Turkish and Moroccan population in the Netherlands.
The second aim is to identify the differences in determinants
of smoking behaviour between the first and second generation
and between the strategies of acculturation.
The following research questions will be addressed:
- What is the prevalence of smoking in the Surinamese, Turkish
and Moroccan population in the age of 10 - 55 years?
- What are the determinants of starting smoking or quitting
smoking in the Surinamese, Turkish and Moroccan population
? What are the differences with the Dutch population?
- To what extent are the differences in smoking behaviour
and its determinants associated with generation or acculturation
processes?
Research methods: The design is a cross-sectional survey study
among a sample of first and second generation Surinamese, Turkish
and Moroccan people residing in Amsterdam. To develop and validate
the survey for the three research populations, a literature
search and focusgroup interviews take place.
Planned publications will be a.o. on the following issues:
- Prevalence of smoking behaviour and its determinants in Surinamese,
Turkish and Moroccan individuals in the first and second generation.
- Acculturation processes and smoking behaviour in Surinamese,
Turkish and Moroccan immigrants.
Finally, on the basis of these scientific publications I will
write a PhD thesis.
The project is supervised by Prof. dr. Niek Klazinga, professor
of Social Medicine.
The funding organisation is 'Zorg Onderzoek Nederland', which
is the main funding organisation in the field of public health
research in the Netherlands.
Several organisations participate in the project:
- the Municipal Health Service Amsterdam, Dutch Foundation
on Smoking and Health (Stivoro),
- the Netherlands Institute for Health Promotion and Disease
Prevention (NIGZ),
- Maastricht Health Research Institute for Prevention and
Care (Prof. dr. H. de Vries) and
- Medical Anthropological Department, University of Amsterdam
(Prof. dr. S. van de Geest).
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