1-084 - Food Insecurity and Child and Family Wellbeing

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Food insecurity is a large and growing problem in the U.S., affecting nearly 1 out of every 4 households with young children. Prior research documents negative associations between food insecurity and child development (e.g., Alaimo et al., 2001; Ashiabi et al., 2005; Johnson & Markowitz, 2015; Slopen et al., 2010). This proposed panel will present new evidence linking early food insecurity to cognitive outcomes through 2nd grade (paper #1), probing explanations for those associations both at the family (paper #2) and policy (paper #3) levels. Specifically, paper #1 uses national data to explore trajectories of reading skill development in the early elementary school years for food insecure vs. food secure children, finding that food insecurity contributes to a substantial reading skill achievement gap. Paper #2 investigates the family-level factors that may contribute to an association between early food insecurity and children’s developmental outcomes in a national sample, highlighting indicators of parental wellbeing; results suggest that early childhood food insecurity can decrease parental physical health and child-directed cognitive stimulation, and increase maternal depression and spousal conflict. Paper #3 turns to policy-level explanations for links between food insecurity and negative child outcomes, using daily diary methodology to demonstrate that food stamp recipient families with young children experience higher levels of food insecurity as the end of the month nears and food stamps run out. Together, these papers shed new light on negative effects of food insecurity on child development and pinpoint possible avenues for intervention at the household and policy levels.

Sub Unit

• Social Policy

Chair

• Anna Johnson, Georgetown University

Discussant

• Barbara H. Fiese, University of Illinois, Family Resiliency Center

Individual Presentations

• Impacts of Household Food Insecurity on Early Elementary School Outcomes: National Evidence from the ECLS-K:2011 - Presenting Author: Kevin Gee, University of California, Davis

• What Explains Negative Effects of Food Insecurity on Children? Identifying Family-level Mechanisms - Presenting Author: Anna Johnson, Georgetown University; Anna Justine Markowitz, University of Virginia

• Within-Month Variability in SNAP Recipients’ Daily Food Insecurity - Presenting Author: Anna Gassman-Pines, Duke University