Modifying Effects of Participation in Food Assistance Programs on the Weight Status, Health, Develop, and Well-Being of Child

Project Director
Variyam, J.

Recipient Organization
USDA/ERS
1800 M STREET NW
WASHINGTON,DC 20036

Performing Department
ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE

Non Technical Summary
This project will examine, in a sample of elementary-aged children, the casual relationships among food insecurity, overweight, and other measures of child development and well-being, and to test for the modifying effect of participation in TANF, the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, and past participation in WIC and Head Start.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
610	5010	3010	100%

Knowledge Area
610 - Domestic Policy Analysis;

Subject Of Investigation
5010 - Food;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;

Keywords

children

child nutrition

child development

food assistance programs

participation

food insecurity

Goals / Objectives
To examine, in a sample of elementary-aged children, the casual relationships among food insecurity, overweight, and other measures of child development and well-being, and to test for the modifying effect of participation in TANF, the Fodd Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, and past participation in WIC and Head Start.

Project Methods
This study will make use of a longitudinal data set, the Early Chhildhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 to examine, in a sample of elementary school-aged children, 1) the casual direction of any relationship between food insecurity, overweight, and other measures of child development and well-being, and 2) test for the modifying effect of participation in TANF, the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program, and past participation in WIC and Head Start. Structural equation modeling will be used to examine the role of selection effects and examine ecological covariates that may confound the relationships among food insecurity, program participation, and outcomes.

Progress 10/01/04 to 09/30/05

Outputs
The first journal article from this cooperative agreement "Food insecurity affects school children's academic performance, weight gain, and social skills" was published by the Journal of Nutrition (Vol 135: 2831-2839, 2005). The article presents an analysis of the relationship of food insecurity (and changes in it) with child outcomes (and changes in them), including reading, mathematics, weight, and social skills. The study found using fixed-effects models that becoming food insecure (as compared to becoming food secure) was associated with ac Less learning in reading in females, and a similar trend in males ac Greater weight change in males, and a trend for less weight change in females ac Greater change in social skills in males, but less change in females A symposium on "Food assistance and the well-being of low-income families" was organized at the 2005 Experimental Biology meeting and a paper "Food stamp program participation is associated with better academic learning among school children" was presented.

Impacts
This study provides the strongest empirical evidence to date that food insecurity is linked to developmental consequences for girls and boys, particularly impaired social skills development and reading performance for girls.There are 3 possible explanations for the associations between food insecurity and development outcomes: first, child development problems result in concurrent household food insecurity; second, food insecurity results in concurrent developmental consequences; and third, other variables confound the relation. Because there is no theoretical reason to assume that impaired child development causes household food insecurity and we controlled for confounders at the individual and household levels, the most plausible interpretation of the results is that food insecurity in the early elementary years has developmental consequences. Furthermore, these consequences may be both nutritional and nonnutritional.

Publications

Jyoti, D., Frongillo, E., Jones, S., 2005, "Food Insecurity Affects School Childrenas Academic Performance, Weight Gain, and Social Skills", Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 135, Issue 12, pp. 2831-2839