Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Food Insecurity and Family and Child Wellbeing: What Explains Effects and What Role Does Food Assistance Play?

(Family and Child Policy)

Food insecurity and the food assistance programs designed to reduce it are currently occupying center stage in national policy conversations. On one end, food insecurity – particularly among households with young children – has recently been recognized as a public health crisis: nearly 1 out of every 4 households with young children has experienced food insecurity. At the same time, there are active policy debates about the future of the U.S. food safety net, including the implementation of stricter eligibility requirements, which could reduce the number of children and families served. In the spirit of the APPAM 2018 conference theme of “evidence for action”, the proposed panel will inform these contemporary conversations by bringing new evidence on the potential impacts of food insecurity on family and child wellbeing, alongside evidence of the role of food assistance receipt for ameliorating these negative outcomes.

The first 2 papers focus on food insecurity and its negative impacts on families, parenting processes, and children. Specifically, Paper #1 (Johnson & Markowitz) builds on emerging research linking household food insecurity to a host of negative child and family wellbeing outcomes in a sample of young children to understand the mediating and moderating roles of family variables in explaining food insecurity impacts on children, as well as how food assistance might mute those negative effects. Paper #2 (Gee & Asim) focuses specifically on parenting stress arising from food insecurity among children in early elementary school, finding that severe adult food insecurity raises parenting stress.

The second 2 papers examine policy solutions designed to prevent hunger and food insecurity, focusing on the two key programs that constitute the food safety net for families with young children: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Specifically, Paper #3 (Hines & Ryan) uses national data and sibling fixed effects models to estimate impacts of WIC receipt during early childhood on children’s cognitive and behavioral problems. Paper #4 (Gassman-Pines & colleagues) uses daily diary methodology to explore whether food stamp recipient families with adolescent children experience higher levels of food insecurity as the end of the benefit month nears and food stamps run out.

Findings from these papers will shine a light on the implications of altering food assistance programs. Given the breadth of these papers and their timeliness in light of current policy debates around modifying food assistance programs, a lively question-and-answer session is expected. Dr. Barbara Fiese, Director of Professor of Human Development & Family Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Director of its Family Resiliency Center, will provide discussant comments. Dr. Fiese has published widely on food insecurity and its effects on child wellbeing, and the role of food assistance programming as well as family routines and mealtime in ameliorating those negative impacts.