The Impact of Child Support on Food Security among Low-Income Single-Mother Households

Background and Purpose:

This study examines the impact of child support on food insecurity among low-income single-mother households. Household food security—the assured access of all people to enough food for a healthy and active life—has received increasing attention from policymakers and researchers over the past decade. An emerging body of literature has linked food insecurity to a variety of negative outcomes, particularly for children, confirming the importance of food security as an indicator of wellbeing and a legitimate target of public concern.

Single-mother households have food insecurity rates that are substantially higher than others. According to the national estimates in 2005, food insecurity rates among female-headed households are three times higher than those of married-couple households (31% to 10%). Despite this high risk of food insecurity, there has been relatively little research specifically focusing on food security in single-mother households.

Child support has been widely viewed as a potential means of economic support to single-mother households, and receipt has been linked to a variety of positive outcomes for children. However, less well understood is the contribution of child support to material hardships experienced by single-mother households. Moreover, little is known about the extent to which child support may serve to offset the high risk of food insecurity in single-mother households.

This study fills the gap in previous literature. Our hypothesis is that child support receipts will lower the risk of food insecurity among single-mother households; we expect both the amount and regularity of support to be important.

Methods:

This paper analyzes the 2001 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The SIPP contains the short version of the USDA food security scale and a monthly record of child support receipts, as well as detailed household information. 1,002 low-income single-mother households are selected. Because food insecurity is dichotomously defined (food insecure vs. secure), a logit model is utilized in the multivariate analysis. Key independent variables are the amount of support received as well as indicator of regular receipt.

Results:

Descriptive statistics show that 26 percent of low-income single-mother households experience food insecurity. Multivariate analyses show that receiving child support on a regular basis significantly lowers the risk of food insecurity among single-mother households, but that the amount of support is not a significant predictor. The odds ratio of food insecurity among single-mother households who received child support for all months is about 40% lower than among other single mothers. We also find that, among households receiving Food Stamps, a higher amount of Food Stamp receipts is significantly linked to a reduced risk of food insecurity. Other independent variables are generally consistent with past literature.

Implications:

We find that child support is beneficial to food security when it is a predictable income source for low-income single-mother households. Our finding implies that current child support policy needs to focus not only the amount of collection, but also the consistent distribution of child support to single-mother households, in order to be effective in reducing food insecurity.