Food security during infancy: implications for attachment and mental proficiency in toddlerhood.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the associations between household food security (access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food) during infancy and attachment and mental proficiency in toddlerhood. METHODS: Data from a longitudinal nationally representative sample of infants and toddlers (n = 8944) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-9-month (2001-2002) and 24-month (2003-2004) surveys were used. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the direct and indirect associations between food insecurity at 9 months, and attachment and mental proficiency at 24 months. RESULTS: Food insecurity worked indirectly through depression and parenting practices to influence security of attachment and mental proficiency in toddlerhood. CONCLUSIONS: Social policies that address the adequacy and predictability of food supplies in families with infants have the potential to affect parental depression and parenting behavior, and thereby attachment and cognitive development at very early ages.

Food insecurity works through depression, parenting, and infant feeding to influence overweight and health in toddlers.

We used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort 9- and 24-mo surveys (n = 8693) and Structural Equation Modeling to examine direct and indirect associations between food insecurity and toddlers' overweight (weight for length), physical health, and length for age. There were significant effects of food insecurity on parental depression and parental depression in turn influenced physical health. There were also significant effects of food insecurity on parenting practices, which in turn were significantly associated with infant feeding and subsequently toddlers' overweight. There were no significant direct or indirect associations between food insecurity and toddlers' length for age. Our results show that food insecurity influences parenting, including both depression and parenting practices. Findings suggest parental depression is a stressor on parenting behavior that social policy should address to alleviate problematic child health outcomes. Findings underscore the importance of continuing and strengthening policy initiatives to ensure that families with infants and toddlers have sufficient, predictable, and reliable food supply.

Children's nutrition in Jamaica: do household structure and household economic resources matter?

This study assesses the influence of household structure and resource dilution characteristics on children's nutritional status in Jamaica. The study has two objectives: (1) to compare the impact of different types of household structures (e.g. single parent, two parent, cohabiting and extended) on child nutrition (low height for age); and (2) to examine whether household structure and household resources interact to affect child nutrition in this context. We use data from the Jamaica 1996 Living Standards Measurement Study Survey and a series of logistic regression models to test hypotheses derived from the current child well-being literature. The results show that living in a single-parent household and a cohabiting household increases the odds of stunting for children. The analysis also indicates that children in single-parent low-income families with siblings and low-income extended families with siblings are more likely to have low height for age. The key policy implication that emerges from this study is that household structure is important for understanding children's nutritional outcomes in the Caribbean.