Elsevier

Academic Pediatrics

Volume 16, Issue 1, January–February 2016, Pages 90-96
Academic Pediatrics

Maternal and Adolescent Mental Health
Household Food Insecurity and Mental Health Problems Among Adolescents: What Do Parents Report?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2015.08.005Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

To investigate whether adolescents living in households with food insecurity have poorer parent-reported mental health (MH) than peers.

Methods

We analyzed cross-sectional data from ∼8600 adolescents who participated in the 2007 (8th grade) wave of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten. Household food insecurity (HFI) was assessed by parental report on the 18-item US Household Food Security Scale. Total Difficulties score >13 on the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) indicated problems with adolescent MH. SDQ subscale scores (Emotional, Conduct, Hyperactivity, Peer Problems) were also calculated. Associations between HFI and MH were explored in bivariate and multivariable analyses. Interactions of HFI and gender and HFI and receipt of free/reduced-price school lunch were analyzed with regard to problems with MH.

Results

A total of 10.2% of adolescents lived with HFI; 11.2% had SDQ >13. Adolescents with HFI had higher rates of overall MH problems (28.7% vs 9.2%), emotional problems (21.6% vs 6.6%), conduct problems (26.5% vs 11.6%), hyperactivity (22.4% vs 11.3%), and peer problems (19.8% vs 8.6%) (all P < .01). After adjustment for confounders, the association between HFI and overall MH problems (odds ratio 2.3; 95% confidence interval 1.6–3.3) remained. Interactions of HFI and gender and HFI and free/reduced-price school lunch were not significant.

Conclusions

HFI was associated with increased risk of parent-reported MH problems among both male and female adolescents. Free/reduced-price school lunch did not significantly alter this relationship. Effective interventions to promote MH and reduce HFI among adolescents are necessary.

Section snippets

Methods

We used publicly available data from the 2007 (8th grade) wave of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten (ECLS-K) class of 1998–1999, a study that followed a large and nationally representative cohort of children from kindergarten until 8th grade. A detailed description of the ECLS-K methodology is available online (http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kindergarten.asp).17

Data were obtained primarily from the ECLS-K 8th grade parent interview, which was conducted by telephone using a

Results

In this sample, 10.2% of adolescents lived in households with food insecurity, and 11.2% were reported by their parents to have problems with MH. The characteristics of the sample and relationships with HFI and with adolescent MH are shown in Table 1. Grade level, poverty status, income below the poverty threshold, parent not married, level of parent education, fair/poor parent health, parent depression, receipt of free/reduced-price school lunch, unsafe school, unsafe neighborhood, and number

Discussion

This study utilized data from a nationally representative survey of children in the United States and demonstrated that exposure to HFI is independently associated with a more than 2-fold increase in risk of parent-reported MH problems of adolescents. This finding is particularly concerning, given the fact that at least 1 in 5 US households with children <18 years old is food insecure, and an even higher percentage of children and families living in poverty are food insecure.2

MH disorders have

Acknowledgment

This investigation was supported in part by MCHB 2777MC00009.

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    The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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