Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Adolescents experience food insecurity at higher rates than do younger children. This age-specific pattern occurs independent of the number of children in the household and the greater food needs of older children (Nord, 2009). Additionally, Moffit and Ribar (2015) report that families with few economic resources prioritize allocating food to younger children at the disadvantage of adolescent children.

Adolescent food insecurity is of great policy concern due to its association with a host of concurrent emotional and behavioral problems (McIntyre et al. 2013 and others). Adolescent food insecurity and the resulting distress may change parent-child interactions in ways that are harmful to adolescent emotional well-being (Ashiabi and Neal, 2007). Additionally, the daily energy directed toward securing food in a food insecure environment creates a tunneling effect psychologically that reduces cognitive ability and executive control (Mullainathan and Shafir 2013). Drawing on this literature, exposure to food insecurity is a key, precipitating event that destabilizes a household and creates scarcity—both of which bring about changes in family functioning and adolescents’ cognitive well-being that negatively affect decision making and a successful adult transition. This study’s research question answers whether the harmful effects of adolescent food insecurity persist. If so, the transition to adulthood will be characterized by higher rates of risky behaviors in young adulthood.

Scholarly work on the health, cognitive, and behavioral effects of food insecurity tends to focus on early exposure (Bhattacharya, Currie, & Haider, 2004 and others). This study contributes to the research base in two ways. First, it will address the previously unexplored question of whether food insecurity during adolescence is associated with negative young adult outcomes. Second, it uses an expanded set of outcomes that focus on high-risk and externalizing behaviors, such as alcohol/drug use, criminal activity, and teenaged parenting.

The study uses data from the Child Development Supplement (CDS) and the Transition to Adulthood Supplement (TAS) of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The CDS was administered when the children were ages 0-12 and includes questions from the USDA’s Core Food Security Module. The TAS provides the key young adult outcomes for those children at ages 18-28. The analysis includes individuals interviewed in at least one of the three CDS waves and in at least one of the five TAS waves (N~4,496).

Preliminary results from OLS regression and probit models controlling for permanent income suggest that adolescent exposure to food insecurity is significantly related (p<.05) to young adults’ total number of children, to the probability of becoming a teenaged parent, and with engaging in physical violence in the previous twelve months.

These results can inform policy discussions about nutritional assistance. They imply that increased nutritional assistance aimed at adolescents could reduce teenaged fertility and childrearing. This study also points to the importance of maintaining panel datasets, such as the supplements to the PSID, that allow the research community to study the effects of food insecurity over the life course.