Food insecurity is associated with maternal depression and child pervasive developmental symptoms in low-income Latino households

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to investigate associations between household food insecurity, maternal clinical depression, and child behavior problems in low-income Latino households. Data were collected from a cohort of 168 children and their Latina mothers recruited prenatally at two San Francisco hospitals from 2006 to 2007. Food insecurity at year four was associated with increased odds of maternal clinical depression at years four to five (adjusted OR 1.22, 95% confidence interval 1.03–1.43). Food insecurity at year four was associated with child pervasive developmental problems at year five (B = 0.21, p = 0.041) in adjusted models. The association between food insecurity at year four and oppositional defiant problems at year five was partially mediated (28.7% mediation, p = 0.046) by maternal clinical depression in years four and five. Our results suggest that household food insecurity is associated with greater maternal depression, and both food insecurity and maternal depression uniquely predict certain types of child behavior problems. Assessing for and addressing household food insecurity may be beneficial additions to psychosocial interventions targeting maternal and child mental health.

Abbreviations: DSM: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual; CBCL: Child Behavior Checklist; MINI: Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview; US HFSSM: US Household Food Security Scale Module

KEYWORDS:

• Nutrition policy
• mental health
• anxiety
• medically underserved
• Hispanic
• Mexican Americans

Declaration of Interest

None of the authors have a conflict of interest

Contributor Statement

JMW, MBH designed the study; JMN, SG, JMW conducted data analysis; JMN, SG, JMW, MJH, MBH contributed to interpretation of data; JMN wrote the manuscript; JMN, SG, MJH, MBH, JMW revised the article critically for intellectual content; and all authors approved final version of the manuscript

Additional information

Funding

All phases of this study were supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases grant (NIDDK) (K01DK080825). The funder had no role in the design, analysis, or writing of this article.