Are long-term education and early pregnancy outcomes associated with child hunger distinct from other poverty outcomes?

INTRODUCTION: Child hunger, also known as very low food security, represents an adverse experience associated with growing up in poverty. Lifecourse theories suggest that the childhood hunger experience could have latent, cumulative and intersecting effects on adult outcomes due to both severe psychosocial stress as well as potential nutritional deprivation. The objective of this study was to model the independent contribution of the child hunger experience to subsequent high school graduation and early pregnancy, in consideration of other indicators of child poverty.

METHODS: Using logistic regression, we analyzed 15468 cohort members from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth with data on the experience of hunger (measured as a single question) and other exposures drawn from NLSCY Cycle 1(1994) through Cycle 7 (2006/2007), and outcomes drawn from Cycle 8 (2008/2009).  

RESULTS: The prevalence of child hunger was 5.7% in the cohort whose mean age was 20 years after 16 years of follow up.  Child hunger was independently predictive of high school dropout with odds of 1.79 (95% CI 1.05-3.05) in a model that also identified male sex, always lived in rental accommodation, ever lived with a lone mother, lower permanent household income, rural residence, and low maternal education, as significant. Early pregnancy outcomes for both men and women were significantly associated with similar exposures but not with child hunger experience.

CONCLUSIONS: Child hunger appears to be an independent risk factor for high school dropout, over and above other indicators of child poverty.  The prevention of children from living in very low food security circumstances is of paramount importance. Remedying their circumstances early in their schooling may also be an avenue to improving educational outcomes and subsequent life chances.