Household food insecurity (FI) is a serious public health concern and has been associated with poor health, iron deficiency, developmental risk and behavior problems among children. However, the relation between FI and overweight/obesity is inconsistent among young children. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal entitlement program designed to reduce FI. However, research on SNAP is complicated by selection bias. In addition, neighborhood food deserts are associated with higher BMI among children and adults, but studies on FI/SNAP and child health among young children have not considered the environmental contextual factors. African American, and Hispanic households are more likely to experience FI than white households, but it is not clear whether health outcomes of children in households with FI are worse for children from racial/ethnic minority groups, living in food deserts or both. The purpose of this proposed project is to conduct secondary analyses to assess the cross- sectional and longitudinal relation between FI/SNAP and child health (overweight/obesity, academic performance and behavior problems), by statistically reducing the selection bias, and assessing the moderating effect of the neighborhood food deserts and race/ethnicity among a sample of low-income children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ELCS-K:2011). Neighborhood food desert information will be derived from the 2010 Food Access Research Atlas provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The overall goal of this project is to understand the relations between FI/SNAP and child health and the impact of neighborhood food access and race/ethnicity on the relations. Based on the findings of this R03, an R01 application will propose an assessment on the effect of establishing new grocery stores on change of food insecurity, SNAP and children?s health in the local community.
There is a lack of attention to contextual factors, especially neighborhood food environment, in the assessment of food insecurity or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in relation to child health. Assessment of the moderating effect of neighborhood food environment, as well as race/ethnicity in addition to neighborhood food environment, will inform investigators and policy makers to improve child health from low-income families.
