ABSTRACT
In industrialized countries, approximately 5-15% of families experience food insecurity, that is insufficient access to “sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets individuals’ dietary needs and preferences for an active and healthy life” [1]–[6]. Prior research has shown that food insecurity is associated with poor health and developmental outcomes in children [7]–[13]. In particular, children growing up in families that are food-insecure appear to have high levels of symptoms of anxiety/depression [12], [14]–[16], aggression, and hyperactivity/inattention [5], [12], [17]. This may be due to three mechanisms: 1) food insecurity may be associated with other exposures related to children’s psychological well-being (e.g. low income); 2) food insecurity and children’s mental health may have common causes (e.g. parental psychopathology); 3) food insecurity may independently predict children’s psychological and behavioral wellbeing [18]; and 4) food insecurity may predict parental depression [19]. Thus,
in order to examine associations between food insecurity and children’s mental health, it is important to control for individual and familial characteristics which may confound this association.
