Child Experience of Food Insecurity Is Associated with Child Diet and Physical Activity¹,²

Abstract

Background: Food insecurity is associated with deficits in child development and health, but little is known about how children’s specific food-insecurity experiences play out through nutritional and non-nutritional pathways that may compromise well-being.

Objective: This study used child self-reports of food insecurity to examine the types of food-insecurity experiences that were most prevalent and the relations between child food insecurity (CFI), child diet, and child physical activity (PA).

Methods: A total of 3605 fourth- and fifth-grade children whose schools participated in the Network for a Healthy California–Children’s PowerPlay! campaign completed 24-h diary-assisted recalls and surveys including items from the Child Food Security Assessment and questions about PA. Data were analyzed by using regression and logistic regression models.

Results: CFI was present in 60% of the children and included experiences of cognitive, emotional, and physical awareness of food insecurity. Greater levels of CFI were associated with higher consumption of energy, fat, sugar, and fiber and a diet lower in vegetables. For instance, a child at the highest level of CFI, on average, consumed ∼494 kJ/d (118 kcal), 8 g/d of sugar, and 4 g/d of fat more than a food-secure child. Higher CFI was associated with a marginally significant difference (P = 0.06) in minutes of PA (17 min/d less for children at the highest level of CFI vs. those who were food secure) and with significantly greater perceived barriers to PA.

Conclusions: CFI is a troublingly frequent, multidomain experience that influences children’s well-being through both nutritional (dietary) and non-nutritional (e.g., PA) pathways. CFI may lead to poor-quality diet and less PA and their developmental consequences. Practitioners should consider CFI when assessing child health and well-being and can do so by asking children directly about their CFI experiences.