Linking food insecurity and child development: The developmental effects of food insecurity in young, low-income Black and Latino children

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Madina Agenor, AB¹, Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, MPH², Ruth Rose-Jacobs, ScD¹, Deborah A. Frank, MD¹, and Suzette Levenson, MPH, MEd². (1) Department of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, 725 Massachusetts Avenue, Mezzanine floor, SW, Boston, MA 02118, 301-704-4873, magenor@gmail.com, (2) Data Coordinating Center, Boston University School of Public Health, 850 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 02118

Background: This is the first paper to investigate the association between household food insecurity and developmental risk among young Black and Latino children living in low-income households. Methods: The Children's Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Program (C-SNAP) is a national network of pediatric clinicians and public health specialists which monitors the health and nutrition of children under the age of three seeking care in urban emergency departments and acute care clinics in Baltimore, Boston, Minneapolis, and Little Rock. C-SNAP began assessing the developmental outcomes of children 4 to 36 months of age in July 2004 through the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS). Results: After controlling for potentially confounding variables in a sample of 1,796 children (1,311 Black, 485 Latino), C-SNAP found that Black and Latino children living in low-income, food insecure households experienced significantly higher odds of being at risk for developmental delay than Black and Latino children living in low-income but food secure households (Blacks: 1.57 adjusted odds ratio, Latinos: 2.23 adjusted odds ratio). Conclusions: Protecting children of color from household food insecurity during their first few years of life may decrease the achievement gap that exists between Black and White students and Latino and White students, as well as enhance their future economic opportunities.

Learning Objectives:

Articulate the socioeconomic factors that place children of color at particularly high risk for food insecurity; (
Quantify the impact of food insecurity on the development of young Black and Latino children living in low-income households; (
List the major implications for the education and economic systems; (
Determine effective policy solutions.

Related Web page: www.c-snap.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation

Public Health Implications of Food Insecurity

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA