Abstract
Background: Ethnic differences in health commence early in life. Ethnic minority young adults have a greater prevalence of unhealthier lifestyles and poorer health outcomes than their peers. Variations in health literacy could contribute to these ethnic inequalities in health but have not yet been investigated in this group.
Objective: This study investigated ethnic differences in performance-based and self-reported health literacy in young adults and examined whether these differences are explained by educational level, language difficulties, or cultural distance.
Methods: Young adults (age 18-25 years) from Dutch, African Surinamese, South-Asian Surinamese, Ghanaian, Turkish, and Moroccan ethnic backgrounds (N = 2,215) participated in the HELIUS (HEalthy Life in an Urban Setting) study, a cohort study in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Performancebased health literacy was measured by the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine in Dutch (REALM-D). Self-reported health literacy was measured by the Chew’s Set of Brief Screening Questions (SBSQ). The association between ethnicity and health literacy, and the role of background characteristics was assessed by linear regression analyses. Key
Results: Performance-based health literacy was low (REALM-D