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For kids, food insecurity is about more than hunger - Futurity
For children, food insecurity means not only hunger, but also sadness and stress, a new study shows.
Parents who experience food insecurity might think they’re protecting their kids from their family’s food situation if they eat less or different foods so their kids don’t have to.
But, children may know more about food insecurity—the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food—than their parents give them credit for.
“The long-held assumption is that parents will do whatever it takes to protect their children from food insecurity,” says Cindy Leung, assistant professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan and lead researcher of the paper in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
“Our study shows that children are not only aware that their family is food insecurity, but they’re also psychologically impacted by it.”
For children, food insecurity means not only hunger, but also sadness and stress, a new study shows.
Parents who experience food insecurity might think they’re protecting their kids from their family’s food situation if they eat less or different foods so their kids don’t have to.
But, children may know more about food insecurity—the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food—than their parents give them credit for.
“The long-held assumption is that parents will do whatever it takes to protect their children from food insecurity,” says Cindy Leung, assistant professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan and lead researcher of the paper in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
“Our study shows that children are not only aware that their family is food insecurity, but they’re also psychologically impacted by it.”