Alka M Kanaya

Biographic Data

ID	111450
NAME	Alka M Kanaya
GIVEN NAMES	Alka M
FAMILY NAME	Kanaya
SIGNATURE	KANAYA A M
AFFILIATIONS	University of California, San Francisco
ORCID	0000-0002-8903-1457
VERIFIED	Yes
TOTAL WORKS	43
TOTAL CITATIONS	45
AUTHOR COUNT	43
EDITOR COUNT	0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR	2007
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR	2026
H-INDEX	4

The structure of religion and spirituality in a diverse sample of adults in the United States: A report on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in the study on stress, spirituality, and health
Open AccessWade C Rowatt, Shawn J Latendresse et al.ARTICLEPsychology of Religion and…2026
Objective: This paper details psychometric analyses of religion and spirituality (R/S) measures in a diverse sample of U.S. adults in the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health (SSSH). Methods: participants. Given our goal of identifying a robust, parsimonious set of R/S measures for common use in U.S. cohort studies, we analyzed the structure of individual R/S items in a combined sample and disregarded whether items were part of a pre-existin…
Immigration, acculturation, and diabetes: A comparative study of diabetes prevalence among Asian Indian immigrants living in the United States and native-born populations in India and the United State…
Open AccessEmma Nichols, Hunter Green et al.ARTICLESSM - Population Health2025
Despite evidence that Indian immigrants in high-income countries have higher diabetes risk, few studies have directly compared Indian immigrants to both Indians in India and the general population. We compared diabetes prevalence in the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) study (Indian immigrants) (N = 686), the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) (Indians in India) (N = 40,496), and the Health and Retirem…
Who Turns to God, and How? Religious and Spiritual Identity Differentially Predict Religious Coping Strategy Use in the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health
Carley Vornlocher, Alexandra S Wormley et al.ARTICLEInternational Journal for the…2025References: 4
Religious affiliations, religious practices, and health behaviors in US South Asians
Open AccessSamuel Stroope, Blake Victor Kent et al.ARTICLEAnnals of Behavioral Medicine2025References: 64
OBJECTIVES: This study examined how religious affiliations and religious practices are related to health behaviors and clinical health behavior-related outcomes in US South Asians, an under-researched group. DESIGN: A novel religion/spirituality questionnaire was used in the Mediators of Atherosclerosis Among South Asians Living in America study (N = 983), the most comprehensive population-based health study of US South Asians. Analyses relied on…
The association of discrimination, inflammation, and coping style on self-rated health among South Asian individuals in the Masala Study
Raji Pillai, Sahiti Myneni et al.ARTICLEEthnicity and Health2025References: 4
The unknown magnitude and duration, and the lack of variability in discrimination among participants could explain the null findings between discrimination and inflammation. Gaining a better understanding of the ways in which SAs appraise and cope with discriminatory experiences may help to develop future interventions targeted to reduce the adverse health consequences of discrimination among SAs
Everyday Discrimination and Its Predictors in the Masala Study
Open AccessAmandeep Kaur, Kristine M Molina et al.ARTICLEJournal of Racial and Ethnic…2025References: 97
Profiles of cardiometabolic risk and acculturation indicators among South Asians in the US: Latent class analysis of the Masala study
Open AccessFrancisco Alejandro Montiel Ishino, Katia M Canenguez et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Public Health2024
Background: South Asians (SA) represent the fastest growing US immigrant group, and previous studies have indicated that they face disproportionately high burden of cardiometabolic disease. Cardiometabolic disease manifests as a syndemic or synergistic epidemic encompassing multiple disease clusters influenced by biological, social, and psychological factors stemming from the acculturative process. This process may exacerbate morbidity within imm…
Do Religion and Spirituality Buffer the Effect of Childhood Trauma on Depressive Symptoms? Examination of a South Asian Cohort from the USA
Open AccessLaura Upenieks, Blake Victor Kent et al.ARTICLEJournal of Religion and Health2024
Forgiveness and health across racial-ethnic cohorts: Exploring the conditioning roles of religious attendance and closeness to God in the study on stress, spirituality, and health
Laura Upenieks, Blake Victor Kent et al.ARTICLEMental Health Religion & Culture2024
Empirical research has found a robust association between greater forgiveness and well-being, but we know little of how this may operate in diverse samples of respondents. This study draws on data from the Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII; White women) and the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) to address this gap and test the possible moderating role of religious attendance and perceived closeness with God. Reg…
Belief in miracles, religious/spiritual struggles, and depressive symptoms: Exploring variation among American Indian, South Asian, and White cohorts in the study on stress, spirituality, and health
Laura Upenieks, Blake Victor Kent et al.ARTICLEMental Health Religion & Culture2024
Belief in miracles is widespread, extending to many religious traditions, societies, and cultures. This study examines the relationship between a belief that God heals physical illness through miracles with depressive symptoms, and the possible moderating role of religious/spiritual (R/S) struggles in buffering or exacerbating this relationship. We utilize the Study on Stress, Spirituality and Health (SSSH), which provides a wide array of R/S dat…
Why Is Religious Attendance Linked to More Anxiety in U.S. South Asians? The Mediating Role of Congregational Neglect
Open AccessSamuel Stroope, Blake Victor Kent et al.ARTICLEJournal of Racial and Ethnic…2024Cited by: 1References: 32
Does Religious Service Attendance Modify the Relationship between Everyday Discrimination and Risk of Obesity? Results from the Study on Stress, Spirituality and Health
Open AccessJames Clark Davidson, Blake Victor Kent et al.ARTICLEJournal of Racial and Ethnic…2024References: 89
Associations of Discrimination, Low Social Support, and Limited English Proficiency with Depression in South Asian Immigrants
Open AccessShireen Roy, Saria Hassan et al.ARTICLEJournal of Immigrant and Minority…2023
Social support, psychosocial risks, and cardiovascular health: Using harmonized data from the Jackson Heart Study, Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America Study, and Multi-Ethni…
Open AccessJee Won Park, Chanelle J Howe et al.ARTICLESSM - Population Health2022
Overall, we observed no strong evidence for an association between social support and CVH. However, some psychosocial risks may be modifiers. Prospective studies are needed to assess the social support-CVH relationship by psychosocial risks in racially/ethnically diverse populations
Examining relationships between perceived neighborhood social cohesion and ideal cardiovascular health and whether psychosocial stressors modify observed relationships among JHS, Mesa, and Masala part…
Open AccessAkilah Dulin-Keita, Akilah J Dulin et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2022
We did not find much support for an association between neighborhood social cohesion and LS7, but did find evidence of effect modification. Some of the effect modification results operated in unexpected directions. Future studies should examine neighborhood social cohesion more comprehensively and assess for effect modification by psychosocial stressors
Depression, Religiosity, and Telomere Length in the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health (SSSH)
Open AccessOluwaseyi O Isehunwa, Erica T Warner et al.ARTICLEInternational Journal of Mental…2021
The Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health (SSSH): Psychometric Evaluation and Initial Validation of the SSSH Baseline Spirituality Survey
Open AccessErica T Warner, Blake Victor Kent et al.ARTICLEReligions2021Cited by: 4References: 28
This paper describes the development and initial psychometric testing of the baseline Spirituality Survey (SS-1) from the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health (SSSH). The SS-1 contains a mixture of items selected from validated existing scales and new items generated to measure important constructs not captured by existing instruments, and our purpose here was to establish the validity of new and existing measures in a racially/ethnically di…
Religion and Spirituality among American Indian, South Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latina, and White Women in the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health
Open AccessBlake Victor Kent, James Clark Davidson et al.ARTICLEJournal for the Scientific Study…2021Cited by: 4References: 45
Social scientists have increasingly recognized the lack of diversity in survey research on American religion, resulting in a dearth of data on religion and spirituality (R/S) in understudied racial and ethnic groups. At the same time, epidemiological studies have increasingly diversified their racial and ethnic representation, but have collected few R/S measures to date. With a particular focus on American Indian and South Asian women (in additio…
Acculturation is Associated with Dietary Patterns in South Asians in America
Open AccessMeghana Gadgil, Namratha R Kandula et al.ARTICLEJournal of Immigrant and Minority…2020
Associations of Neighborhood Factors and Activity Behaviors: The Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (Masala) Study
Open AccessStella S Yi, Alka M Kanaya et al.ARTICLEJournal of Immigrant and Minority…2020
Social influence of adult children on parental health behavior among South Asian immigrants: Findings from the Masala (Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America) study
Apoorva Ram, Swapna S Dave et al.ARTICLEEthnicity and Health2020Cited by: 2References: 7
Objectives: Examine the social influence of adult children on the cardiovascular-related health behaviors of older South Asian (SA) immigrants to inform lifestyle interventions. Design: This mixed-methods study used data from an ancillary study of social networks (2014-2018) in the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America cohort. Phase 1 was a quantitative analysis of self-reported diet and physical activity among SA adults …
Prevalence of Diabetes by Race and Ethnicity in the United States, 2011-2016
Yiling J Cheng, Alka M Kanaya et al.ARTICLEJAMA2019
Importance: The prevalence of diabetes among Hispanic and Asian American subpopulations in the United States is unknown. Objective: To estimate racial/ethnic differences in the prevalence of diabetes among US adults 20 years or older by major race/ethnicity groups and selected Hispanic and non-Hispanic Asian subpopulations. Design, Setting, and Participants: National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2011-2016, cross-sectional samples rep…
Private religion/spirituality, self-rated health, and mental health among US South Asians
Open AccessBlake Victor Kent, Samuel Stroope et al.ARTICLEQuality of Life Research2019
Vegetarian diet is inversely associated with prevalence of depression in middle-older aged South Asians in the United States
Y Jin, Sameera A Talegawkar et al.ARTICLEEthnicity and Health2019References: 1
Objective: To investigate associations between a vegetarian diet and depression among South Asians in the United States. Design: Data from 892 South Asians (age range 40-83 y , 47% women) enrolled in the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) study were included. A vegetarian diet was defined as no intake of meat, poultry or fish in the previous year as reported on a validated food frequency questionnaire. Depress…
Mental health and self-rated health among U.S. South Asians: The role of religious group involvement’
Samuel Stroope, Blake Victor Kent et al.ARTICLEEthnicity and Health2019Cited by: 4References: 4
Objectives: Only one community-based study has assessed religious group involvement and health outcomes among South Asians in the U.S., with mixed results. Here, using a large, South Asian community-based sample, the effects of six religious group involvement predictors - religious tradition, attendance, group prayer, giving/receiving congregational emotional support, congregational neglect, and congregational criticism - were examined in relatio…