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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Children’s educational outcomes and persistence and severity of household food insecurity in India
T2 - Longitudinal evidence from Young Lives
AU - Argaw, Thomas Lemma
AU - Fledderjohann, Jasmine
AU - Aurino, Elisabetta
AU - Vellakkal, Sukumar
PY - 2023/4/30
Y1 - 2023/4/30
N2 - Background Food insecurity is a pressing global challenge with far-reaching consequences for health and well-being. However, little attention has focused specifically on the experiences of children and adolescents over the age of 5 y in food insecure households. Objectives We examine whether the persistence and severity of household food insecurity are negatively associated with children’s educational outcomes. Methods We used data for the younger cohort of the longitudinal Young Lives data from rounds 3 (2009), 4 (2013), and 5 (2016), when children were aged 8 y, 12 y, and 15 y, respectively. Drawing on the Household Food Insecurity and Access Scale, we used descriptive statistics, graphical analysis, and multilevel regressions to document how the persistence and severity of household food insecurity are associated with children’s educational outcomes (years of education, maths, and vocabulary [PPVT] test scores). We controlled for potentially confounding sociodemographic characteristics, including children’s own baseline grade attained and test scores in “value-added” models, to provide robust estimates of household food insecurity in predicting children’s educational outcomes. Results Household food insecurity generally declined between 2009 and 2016. Fewer than 50% of households were food secure across the 3 rounds of data we examined. Our robust, multivariate, value-added models show that the persistence and severity of food insecurity are negatively associated with all 3 children’s educational outcomes we examined. Conclusions We add to a small but growing literature exploring how household food insecurity is associated with children’s educational outcomes in the Global South. Our findings on severity of food insecurity highlight the importance of understanding food insecurity along the severity continuum rather than as a dichotomous state, as previously done in existing literature. Addressing household food insecurity in childhood and adolescence may be a key factor to improve children’s educational outcomes.
AB - Background Food insecurity is a pressing global challenge with far-reaching consequences for health and well-being. However, little attention has focused specifically on the experiences of children and adolescents over the age of 5 y in food insecure households. Objectives We examine whether the persistence and severity of household food insecurity are negatively associated with children’s educational outcomes. Methods We used data for the younger cohort of the longitudinal Young Lives data from rounds 3 (2009), 4 (2013), and 5 (2016), when children were aged 8 y, 12 y, and 15 y, respectively. Drawing on the Household Food Insecurity and Access Scale, we used descriptive statistics, graphical analysis, and multilevel regressions to document how the persistence and severity of household food insecurity are associated with children’s educational outcomes (years of education, maths, and vocabulary [PPVT] test scores). We controlled for potentially confounding sociodemographic characteristics, including children’s own baseline grade attained and test scores in “value-added” models, to provide robust estimates of household food insecurity in predicting children’s educational outcomes. Results Household food insecurity generally declined between 2009 and 2016. Fewer than 50% of households were food secure across the 3 rounds of data we examined. Our robust, multivariate, value-added models show that the persistence and severity of food insecurity are negatively associated with all 3 children’s educational outcomes we examined. Conclusions We add to a small but growing literature exploring how household food insecurity is associated with children’s educational outcomes in the Global South. Our findings on severity of food insecurity highlight the importance of understanding food insecurity along the severity continuum rather than as a dichotomous state, as previously done in existing literature. Addressing household food insecurity in childhood and adolescence may be a key factor to improve children’s educational outcomes.
KW - children and adolescents
KW - educational outcomes
KW - India
KW - learning
KW - persistence food insecurity
KW - severe food insecurity
U2 - 10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.02.008
DO - 10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.02.008
M3 - Journal article
VL - 153
SP - 1101
EP - 1110
JO - The Journal of Nutrition
JF - The Journal of Nutrition
IS - 4
ER -