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      Household Food Insecurity and Children's Behaviour Problems: New Evidence from a Trajectories-Based Study

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          Abstract

          This study examined the association between household food insecurity (insufficient access to adequate and nutritious food) and trajectories of externalising and internalising behaviour problems in children from kindergarten to fifth grade using longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a nationally representative study in the USA. Household food insecurity was assessed using the eighteen-item standard food security scale, and children's behaviour problems were reported by teachers. Latent growth curve analysis was conducted on 7,348 children in the ECLS-K, separately for boys and girls. Following adjustment for an extensive array of confounding variables, results suggest that food insecurity generally was not associated with developmental change in children's behaviour problems. The impact of food insecurity on behaviour problems may be episodic or interact with certain developmental stages.

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          Food insufficiency and American school-aged children's cognitive, academic, and psychosocial development.

          This study investigates associations between food insufficiency and cognitive, academic, and psychosocial outcomes for US children and teenagers ages 6 to 11 and 12 to 16 years. Data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) were analyzed. Children were classified as food-insufficient if the family respondent reported that his or her family sometimes or often did not get enough food to eat. Regression analyses were conducted to test for associations between food insufficiency and cognitive, academic, and psychosocial measures in general and then within lower-risk and higher-risk groups. Regression coefficients and odds ratios for food insufficiency are reported, adjusted for poverty status and other potential confounding factors. After adjusting for confounding variables, 6- to 11-year-old food-insufficient children had significantly lower arithmetic scores and were more likely to have repeated a grade, have seen a psychologist, and have had difficulty getting along with other children. Food-insufficient teenagers were more likely to have seen a psychologist, have been suspended from school, and have had difficulty getting along with other children. Further analyses divided children into lower-risk and higher-risk groups. The associations between food insufficiency and children's outcomes varied by level of risk. The results demonstrate that negative academic and psychosocial outcomes are associated with family-level food insufficiency and provide support for public health efforts to increase the food security of American families.
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            Mental health context of food insecurity: a representative cohort of families with young children.

            Children from food-insecure families (ie, families that lack access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food) are at risk for developmental problems. Food insecurity disproportionately occurs among low-socioeconomic status (SES) and low-income families; however, interventions that supplement families' income or diet have not eradicated food insecurity. This may be because food insecurity is also related to nonfinancial factors such as the presence of maternal mental health problems. To clarify whether addressing mothers' mental health problems may be a promising strategy for reducing the burden of food insecurity, we tested the hypothesis that low-SES families are especially vulnerable to food insecurity when the mother experiences depression, alcohol or drug abuse, psychosis spectrum disorder, or domestic violence. We used data from a nationally representative cohort of 1116 British families (the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Study). Food insecurity, family SES, maternal mental health and exposure to domestic violence, and children's behavioral outcomes were measured by using validated methods. Overall, 9.7% of study families were food-insecure. Among low-SES families, controlling for income variation, food insecurity co-occurred with maternal depression (odds ratio [OR]: 2.82 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.62-4.93]), psychosis spectrum disorder (OR: 4.01 [95% CI: 2.03-7.94]), and domestic violence (OR: 2.36 [95% CI: 1.18-4.73]). In addition, food insecurity predicted elevated rates of children's behavior problems. Among families with young children, food insecurity is frequent, particularly when the mother experiences mental health problems. This suggests that interventions that improve women's mental health may also contribute to decreasing the burden of food insecurity and its impact on the next generation.
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              Household food insecurity: associations with at-risk infant and toddler development.

              In this study, we evaluated the relationship between household food security status and developmental risk in young children, after controlling for potential confounding variables. The Children's Sentinel Nutritional Assessment Program interviewed (in English, Spanish, or Somali) 2010 caregivers from low-income households with children 4 to 36 months of age, at 5 pediatric clinic/emergency department sites (in Arkansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania). Interviews included demographic questions, the US Food Security Scale, and the Parents' Evaluations of Developmental Status. The target child from each household was weighed, and weight-for-age z score was calculated. Overall, 21% of the children lived in food-insecure households and 14% were developmentally "at risk" in the Parents' Evaluations of Developmental Status assessment. In logistic analyses controlling for interview site, child variables (gender, age, low birth weight, weight-for-age z score, and history of previous hospitalizations), and caregiver variables (age, US birth, education, employment, and depressive symptoms), caregivers in food-insecure households were two thirds more likely than caregivers in food-secure households to report that their children were at developmental risk. Controlling for established correlates of child development, 4- to 36-month-old children from low-income households with food insecurity are more likely than those from low-income households with food security to be at developmental risk. Public policies that ameliorate household food insecurity also may improve early child development and later school readiness.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Br J Soc Work
                Br J Soc Work
                social
                bjsw
                British Journal of Social Work
                Oxford University Press
                0045-3102
                1468-263X
                June 2016
                08 April 2015
                : 46
                : 4
                : 993-1008
                Affiliations
                School of Social Work, Saint Louis University, St Louis, MO 63103, USA
                Author notes
                *Correspondence to Jin Huang, Ph.D., School of Social Work, Saint Louis University, 3550 Lindell Boulevard, St Louis, MO 63103, USA. E-mail: jhuang5@ 123456slu.edu
                Article
                bcv033
                10.1093/bjsw/bcv033
                4986076
                27559210
                3d3cec3f-cb29-49c4-82ca-cca69eaa73a0
                © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.
                History
                : March 2015
                Page count
                Pages: 16
                Categories
                Articles

                child development,externalising behaviour problem,food security,food insecurity,internalising behaviour problem

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