Household Food Insecurity Shows Associations with Food Intake, Social Support Utilization and Dietary Change among Refugee Adult Caregivers Resettled in the United States

Abstract

Forced migration puts families at risk of household food insecurity and economic hardship. We administered a questionnaire to examine household food insecurity in a sample of 49 recently legally resettled Sudanese refugees with at least one child under age 3 years. Of households polled, 37% had experienced household food insecurity and 12% reported child hunger within the previous month. Increasing severity of household food insecurity was associated with decreased consumption of high-cost, high-nutrient-density food items and increased consumption of some low-cost traditional Sudanese foods by adult caregivers of young children. Furthermore, household food insecurity was associated with decreased household and per capita food expenditure, indicators of more limited dietary change with migration, and indicators of increased social support.

KEYWORDS:

• diet
• diet change
• food insecurity
• hunger
• resettlement
• social determinants