Household Food Insecurity Is Associated with Parental Perceptions of and Student Participation in School Meals.

ABSTRACT:

Background/objectives

School meals are an important source of nutrition for children and have been found to help mitigate food insecurity. This study evaluated the association between food insecurity and school meal participation and whether parental perceptions about school meals differ by food security status.

Methods

In May 2022, 1110 Californian parents of K-12 students shared their perceptions about school meals, including meal quality, healthiness, stigma, and benefits, as well as their child's participation in school meals, in an online survey. Household food security was determined using the USDA 6-item module. Logistic and Poisson regression models were used for analysis.

Results

The prevalence of household food insecurity was 56.2% (69.6% in households of st

SUBMITTER: Zuercher MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11478978 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature