Abstract
Understanding of household food insecurity has come primarily from mothers' reports. We investigated multiple family members' experiences to advance understanding of how low‐income families manage food resources. A sample of 22 families at risk for food insecurity participated in semi‐structured interviews, with youth (aged 9–16), mothers, and other household adults interviewed separately. Interview transcripts were coded iteratively. Although many parents tried to spare their children from experiencing food hardships, children were not fully buffered, with impacts extending beyond hunger to psycho‐social domains critical for children's growth and development. Children were aware of household food insecurity and took responsibility for trying to make food resources last. Awareness was cognitive (knowing that food is scarce), emotional (worry, sadness, or anger related to food scarcity), and physical (hunger, pain, tiredness, or weakness related to food scarcity). Responsibility was manifested as going along with parental strategies, child strategies for making food last, and child activities for bringing more food or money into the household. Parents were unaware of some of their children's experience of food insecurity. Prevalence and experiences of child food insecurity may be underestimated when based solely on maternal report. Funded by Southern Rural Development Center, USDA ERS RIDGE.
Published Version
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