Study investigates the complex roads that lead families to food insecurity

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/uoh-sit020315.php

Public Release: 3-Feb-2015
University of Houston

Food insecurity creates a host of unhealthy consequences. The roads leading there can be very different. Understanding those differences may provide a clearer picture of hunger in families and a better way of responding to families' needs. A University of Houston study examined four risk factors for families that can lead to varying degrees of hunger.

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"Half the households that are food insecure in the U.S. have both adults and children," she said.

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Hernandez used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FF Study) to look at four family risk factors: financial strain, poor health, family disruption and parenting disruption.

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Among Hernandez's findings are that a mother's poor health may determine whether her family is at risk of falling into the most extreme category of food insecurity--very low food security. These families reduce not only the quality of their food intake, but the quantity as well. Additionally, she found that financial strain is a factor in non-poor households experiencing marginal food security, as the family income is not low enough to participate in public assistance programs.

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