Dietary acculturation refers to the process by which immigrants adopt the dietary practices and food choices of their host country following migration.(1) However, this process is multidimensional and may not be adequately captured by proxy indicators such as length of residence or language use. The Asian Indian Dietary Acculturation Measure was originally developed and validated among Asian Indian adults living in the United States.(2) This study aimed to adapt the Asian Indian Dietary Acculturation Measure to the Australian context and evaluate its psychometric properties among first-generation Indian immigrants living in Australia. The instrument was adapted through three sequential stages comprising a review of the literature, expert assessment for cultural and contextual relevance, and pretesting with first-generation Indian immigrants. Adults aged ≥18 years, born in India and currently residing in Australia were recruited nationally using convenience and snowball sampling. Of 419 participants who took part in the survey, n = 278 provided complete responses and were included in the psychometric analyses. Participants had a mean age of 33.07 ± 8.18 years and had lived in Australia for a mean of 9.77 ± 6.66 years. Construct validity was examined using exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis, and internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure was 0.823 and Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant (χ² = 5776.223, df = 1081, p < 0.001), supporting the suitability of the data for factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis identified an eight-factor structure comprising social and cultural influences on diet, food preparation and cooking habits, dining habits and eating out, health and nutrition perceptions, taste preferences and dietary choices, food purchasing and availability, religious and cultural beliefs related to food, and media influence and health perceptions. All retained items had factor loadings ≥0.44. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the eight-factor model, with good overall model fit (RMSEA = 0.027, CFI = 0.959, TLI = 0.956, SRMR = 0.049). Internal consistency was acceptable to excellent across all eight domains, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from 0.762 to 0.936. The adapted Asian Indian Dietary Acculturation Measure demonstrated an eight-factor structure, good overall model fit and acceptable to excellent internal consistency in this sample. These findings provide preliminary support for its use as a multidimensional measure of dietary acculturation among first-generation Indian immigrants in Australia and provide a foundation for further psychometric evaluation.
1. Satia-Abouta J (2010) Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 35, 219–223.
2. Venkatesh S & Weatherspoon LJ (2018) Health Educ Behav 45, 908–917.