Time in the United States and diabetes among Mexican immigrant women: The moderating role of culture

•For Mexican immigrant women in United States, risk of diabetes increases with length of residency.•Acculturation theory and methods fall short in clarifying the underlying pathways by which time in the U.S. impacts health status.•The theory of cultural consonance posits that the extent to which an individual is able to approximate in their own beliefs and behaviors the beliefs and behaviors set forth by a collectively valued and widely agreed upon cultural model is associated with better health outcomes.•For Mexican immigrant women in Birmingham, Alabama, this study shows that cultural consonance with a cultural model of “the good life” is a better predictor of diabetes risk than time living in the U.S. and that consonance moderates the relationship between time in the U.S. and diabetes.•For women who have lived in the U.S. for longer, those who have higher consonance with the cultural model of “the good life” are at low risk for developing type 2 diabetes, while those who have lower consonance are at the highest risk.