Dataset Information

Household food insecurity and school readiness among preschool-aged children in the USA.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The present study examines the association between mild and moderate-to-severe household food insecurity and school readiness among a nationally representative sample of preschool-aged children.

Design

Cross-sectional data pertaining to household food availability as well as four domains of school readiness - early learning skills, self-regulation, social-emotional development and physical health & motor development - were employed.

Setting

The USA.

Participants

15 402 children aged 3-5 years from the 2016-2018 National Survey of Children's Health.

Results

Both mild and moderate-to-severe food insecurity are associated with an increase in needing support or being at-risk in each of the four school readiness domains, particularly Self-Regulation (IRR = 4·31; CI 2·68, 6·95) and Social-Emotional Development (IRR = 3·43; CI 2·16, 5·45). Furthermore, while nearly half of the children in food-secure households are on-track across all four school readiness domains (47·49 %), only one in four children experiencing moderate-to-severe household food insecurity is on-track across all domains (25·26 %).

Conclusions

Household food insecurity is associated with reductions in school readiness among preschool-aged children.

SUBMITTER: Jackson DB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10195580 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Household food insecurity and school readiness among preschool-aged children in the USA.

Jackson Dylan B DB Testa Alexander A Semenza Daniel C DC

Public health nutrition 20210209 6

<h4>Objective</h4>The present study examines the association between mild and moderate-to-severe household food insecurity and school readiness among a nationally representative sample of preschool-aged children.<h4>Design</h4>Cross-sectional data pertaining to household food availability as well as four domains of school readiness - early learning skills, self-regulation, social-emotional development and physical health & motor development - were employed.<h4>Setting</h4>The USA.<h4>Participant ...[more]

PMID: 33557975

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundThe objective was to estimate the prevalence of household food insecurity (HFI) depending on sociodemographic factors and its association with lifestyle habits and childhood overweight and obesity.MethodsData was collected from 1,938 children aged 2 to 14 years who participated in the "Study about Malnutrition" of the Community of Madrid. Weight and height were obtained through physical examination. Body mass index was calculated as weight/height2 (kg/m2) and the criteria of the WHO were used for determining conditions of overweight and obesity. The participants' parents answered a structured questionnaire about their diet, lifestyle (physical activity and screen time), and food insecurity. The diet quality was assessed with the Healthy Eating Index in Spain and food insecurity, defined as the lack of consistent access to sufficient food for a healthy life, was measured via three screening questions and the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). Odds Ratios (ORs) and Relative Risk Ratios (RRRs) were estimated using logistic regression models and adjusted for confounding variables.ResultsThe overall prevalence of HFI was 7.7% (95% CI: 6.6‒9.0), with lower values in children 2 to 4 years old (5.7%, 95% CI: 4.0‒8.1) and significantly higher values in households with low family purchasing power [37.3%; OR: 8.99 (95% CI: 5.5‒14.6)]. A higher prevalence of overweight (33.1%) and obesity (28.4%) was observed in children from families with HFI, who presented a lower quality diet and longer screen time compared to those from food-secure households (21.0% and 11.5%, respectively). The RRR of children in families with HFI relative to those from food-secure households was 2.41 (95% CI: 1.5‒4.0) for overweight and 1.99 (95% CI: 1.2‒3.4) for obesity.ConclusionThe prevalence of HFI was high in the paediatric population, especially in households with low family purchasing power. HFI was associated with lower diet quality and higher prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity. Our results suggest the need for paediatric services to detect at-risk households at an early stage to avoid this dual burden of child malnutrition.

Dataset Information

Household food insecurity and school readiness among preschool-aged children in the USA.

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Household food insecurity and school readiness among preschool-aged children in the USA.

Similar Datasets

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