Tag Archives: food insecurity

Childhood Food Insecurity: Especially Vulnerable Populations

Posted on by

If you’ve read our recent posts, you now know that a number of factors besides household income influence childhood food insecurity, including caretakers’ mental and physical health, parents’ marital status, and childcare arrangements. However, even when these factors are taken into account, children of immigrant parents and children of incarcerated parents remain especially at risk for childhood food insecurity, according to the Future of Children‘s Fall 2014 research report.

For example, writes John Cook, after controlling for other risk factors, “children of foreign-born mothers were three times as likely to experience very low food security as were children of U.S.-born mothers.” And a study by Kelly Balistreri found that 40 percent of children experiencing very low food security are children of immigrants, even though they constitute less than 25 percent of all children in the US.

When children have one or more parents incarcerated, this factor also decreases food security, however the reasons for the effect of incarceration are unclear. The research report highlights several theoretical explanations, but none have been thoroughly investigated. For example, incarcerating a parent might theoretically improve a household’s food security because of decreased demands on resources or by removing a negative influence in the household. On the other hand, incarceration might reduce food security because that parent’s financial, child care, and other contributions are removed. Given these conflicting theories, you might think that other factors correlated with incarceration, such as drug use or mental illness (which I discussed in a previous blog), are causing the effects we see. However, Wallace and Cox found that children with an incarcerated parent are more likely to be food insecure even after controlling for correlated factors.

We need to better understand exactly how these populations are affected, but it’s clear from the research report that children of immigrant or incarcerated parents may need additional support to obtain stable nutrition. Given that these are often two difficult-to-reach populations, policy makers should consider how to best serve these children within existing programs or with new possibilities. For more information about these vulnerable populations, see the Future of Children‘s Fall 2014 research report. For more about children of immigrants in the U.S., see Volume 21 on Immigrant Children.

Food Insecurity and Marital Status

Posted on by

So far, in our blog series on the Gunderson and Ziliak Future of Children research report, we’ve outlined how 1 in 5 children in America are food insecure and how there are more reasons for this besides low household income. For example, caregivers’ mental and physical health, as well as child care arrangements, are contributing factors. Another piece of the puzzle is family structure.

I’ll start with some basic statistics. This table from childstats.gov shows the differences in the percentage of food-insecure households with children by family structure in 2011. Without taking any other contributing factors into account, female-headed households with no spouse present are more than twice as likely to be food-insecure than households headed by married couples (40 vs. 15 percent). Households headed by a father with no spouse present have a 28% prevalence of food insecurity, in between married couples and single mothers.

These differences aren’t surprising. But there’s more to the story.

Gunderson and Ziliak summarize several studies that give us clues about how marital status is related to food insecurity. For example, Balistreri found that children living with a single parent or with an unmarried parent in a more complex family (such as when the mother is cohabiting with a partner and there’s also a grandparent in the household) are at greater risk of food insecurity than children living with two biological parents or in a stepfamily. Also, Neeraj Kaushal and colleagues found that children living with their biological parents, whether married or cohabiting, have a lower risk of food insecurity. In contrast, Miller and colleagues found no substantive differences across family types after controlling for socioeconomic status and demographic characteristics. Regarding unmarried families, Nepomnyaschy and colleagues have shown that nonresident fathers’ consistent support, whether in cash or in kind, is associated with lower food insecurity; interestingly, inconsistent support was worse than no support at all.

Based on these findings, it’s important not to jump to conclusions about marital status and food insecurity. While married-couple households seem to be at least risk, this doesn’t mean a marriage certificate solves food insecurity, and that we should rush people into marriage. Family complexity, socioeconomic status, and nonresident fathers’ support also play a contributing role.

The Fragile Families Study and the work of Sara McLanahan, editor-in-chief of the Future of Children offer potential policy implications. In a recent article about unmarried parents, McLanahan and Jencks concluded that to prevent the negative outcomes associated with having children outside of marriage, women with lower socioeconomic status can be encouraged to postpone having children, giving them time to mature and increase their education and earnings. By extension, since women aren’t likely to marry men with poor earning capacity, men need to increase their capacity to provide for a family. Initiatives such as the promotion of effective birth control and education access seem promising. For currently unmarried families, Nepomnyaschy’s article underscores the importance of consistent child support in reducing the risk of childhood food insecurity.

Food insecurity and child care for low-income families

Posted on by

So far, we’ve written several blogs about how characteristics of children’s parents can influence food security. As the authors of our Fall 2014 research report remind us, however, three-quarters of children spend some portion of their preschool years in the care of people other than their parents, so we need to look at how child-care arrangements may also influence food insecurity among children. This is especially important given that children in center-based care may receive a majority of their nutritional needs at their center rather than in the home.

The research report highlights a study by Heflin, Arteaga, and Gable that compared child care by parents to child care by someone else, among low-income families. Specifically, they examined five types of child-care arrangements: child-care by parents, by a relative, by someone unrelated to the child in a home care setting, in a child-care center, and in Head Start. They found that compared with children cared for exclusively by their parents, low-income preschoolers attending a child-care center had lower levels of both food insecurity in general and of very low food security. Children cared for by a relative were less likely to experience food insecurity in general but equally likely to experience very low food security and children cared for by an unrelated adult were more likely to experience very low food security.

The finding that low-income preschoolers attending child-care centers had lower levels of food insecurity and very low food security compared to those cared for by their parents has several theoretical explanations. First, parents of these children may be better able to work while their children attend the center, which increases household income. Second, these children may receive some of their nutritional needs directly through the child-care center.

While school-based nutrition programs have proven to help alleviate food insecurity for some children, this research reminds us that preschool children must also be considered in policy discussions. Improving access to child-care services for low-income parents of preschool children may improve food security within this age group.

Health of Caregivers and Childhood Food Insecurity

Posted on by

We often assume that low household income causes children’s food insecurity. But the Future of Children’s recent research report highlights a number of additional factors that contribute to food insecurity. One notable risk factor is a caregiver who faces mental or physical health problems.

The latest research shows that even when we account for income level, caregivers’ health is still central to children’s food security. For example, a recent paper in the Journal of Children and Poverty found that mothers in food-secure families had better overall health and were less likely to report substance use compared with mothers in food-insecure households. Craig Gunderson and James Ziliak‘s Future of Children report cites a number of health factors that can contribute to children’s food insecurity, including parental depression, parental drug use, or living with an adult with a disability.

What can we do to help children in these situations? The authors point out that the effect of caregiver’s mental and physical health on family food security raises concerns about families’ ability to navigate the welfare system. A caregiver’s health problems may also be exacerbated by lack of access to services. While the authors argue that improved access to services could improve food security, they also state that we need further research on how policy makers can create more accessible systems. The authors offer one suggestion to address the risk factor of substance use: ensuring that mothers who seek substance use treatment are enrolled in SNAP and WIC, if they are eligible. Perhaps a similar idea could be implemented in other contexts where caregivers receive medical or mental health treatment.

As more researchers explore the relationship between food security and health, new policy possibilities may come to light. However, the research highlighted in the Future of Children report makes us aware that health contributes to food security, and low income is not the only indicator of risk. In following blog posts, we will explore additional factors that influence food security. To learn more about health and food insecurity, see the Future of Children‘s Fall 2014 research report.

Childhood Food Insecurity in America

Posted on by

This past year, lighthearted quizzes have been popular to share and discuss on social media. They’ve allowed to me to find out everything from what U.S. state I actually belong in to which Disney princess I would be if I existed in the cartoon realm, simply by answering odd and seemingly unrelated questions about my personality and preferences. The researcher in me feels a little annoyed at how unscientific these assessments are, but at the same time they are sometimes too fun to pass up–and somehow the results can feel so valid. I’m definitely not opposed to the idea of living in New York as Mulan.

As fun as it can be to spend free time taking and sharing these quizzes, one quiz that ought to go viral is the Hunger Quiz from the Feeding America charity. While it won’t tell you which vegetable you are, it will inform you of some of the surprising facts about hunger in America, and possibly some of your misconceptions about food insecurity. A take-home message is that hunger is a significant problem in America that can alleviated. But what can we do about it?

In a new Future of Children research report, professors Craig Gunderson of the University of Illinois and James Ziliak of the University of Kentucky use the latest research to describe childhood food insecurity in the U.S. They write that the government defines food insecurity as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited access to food” and surprisingly, in 2012, over 1 in 5 children met this criterion. This is disheartening, especially since the government spent over $100 billion in fiscal year 2012 on federal food-assistance programs.

The authors argue that one reason food insecurity rates remain stubbornly high is that we don’t fully understand what causes food insecurity or how programs help alleviate it. The research in the report helps fill this gap and can contribute to policy initiatives that could result in powerful improvements in the health and wellbeing of children.

In upcoming blog posts, we’ll be exploring factors that contribute to food insecurity and what policies are worth consideration in light of these factors. To learn more about food insecurity in America, see the Fall 2014 research report in the Future of Children.