Understanding US children's patterns of and cumulative exposure to food insecurity

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To eliminate child hunger in the United States, a richer understanding of how children experience food insecurity is needed. Little is known about the cumulative exposure of children to food insecurity during the critical years of social, emotional, and physical development. Understanding children's cumulative exposure will provide insights into the prevention of child hunger and the role of food insecurity in children's developmental outcomes. Using US national longitudinal data of households with children, we characterized food insecurity patterns at four grades (kindergarten, third, fifth, and eighth). Twenty‐eight percent of households were food insecure during at least one grade. Food insecurity status was categorized into two main patterns: nonpersistent (once or intermittent) and persistent (two or more consecutive time points). Thirty‐eight percent of households were classified as persistently food insecure. Households that reported low or very low food security were more likely to be persistently food insecure than households that experienced marginal food insecurity. To eliminate food insecurity, policies that reach children in persistent food insecurity should be a high priority, followed by strategies that improve the effectiveness of existing programs for families that experience intermittent food insecurity. Funded by the University of South Carolina.