Food Insecurity in US Households That Include Children with Disabilities

Food insecurity refers to inadequacies of nutritionally adequate, safe foods, and it is typically associated with constrained financial resources. In 2014, 14% of U.S. households had low or very low food security. Among households with children, the level of food insecurity was 20%. A 2013 report found that 33.5% of households with working age adults who had disabilities making them unable to work were food insecure, compared to 24.8% when the disability did not prevent work and 12.0% when there was no disability (Coleman-Jensen & Nord, 2013). Similar mechanisms leading to food insecurity may exist in households where a child has a disability, or where both a child and an adult have a disability, but few articles have explored this topic. Two cross-sectional studies have found that households including children with disabilities have higher odds of food insecurity than other households (Parish, et al., 2008; DeRigne, et al., 2014). However, neither study controlled for adult disability status, despite its relationship to food insecurity as just discussed. Our study controlled for adult disability status.

We examined the association between children’s disability status and food insecurity with data from the 2004 and 2008 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, a nationally representative survey of US households collected by the US Census Bureau (n= 24,741 households). The SIPP is representative of the non-institutionalized US civilian population. The sample included 12.9 million US households (weighted) that include at least one child with a disability. By examining a range of indicators, we assessed the presence of a child with a disability as a predictor of household food insecurity.

Controlling for adult disability status, income, and other sociodemographic factors, we found that households that included children with disabilities experienced significantly higher prevalence of food not lasting long, household members not having eaten balanced meals, and members having skipped meals, as compared to households where no children had a disability. Households that included children with disabilities experienced greater prevalence of low and very low food security compared to households without disabled children. Families raising children with disabilities were more likely to receive SNAP benefits.

The fact that families that include a child with a disability are more likely to receive SNAP benefits but also to be food insecure indicates that SNAP benefits are not sufficient to eliminate food insecurity in many families raising children with disabilities. More robust policy measures are warranted to prevent food insecurity among households raising children with disabilities, which experience elevated care-related costs that likely reduce resources available for food.

References:

Coleman-Jensen A, Nord M. Food insecurity among households with working-age adults with disabilities. Washington, DC: USDA; 2013. ERR-144. ERS. Available: http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/980690/err_144.pdf

DeRigne L, Quinn L, Stoddard-Dare P, Mallett C. Food insecurity in US families with children with limiting health conditions. Health. 2014; 6:2461-68.

Parish SL, Rose RA, Grinstein-Weiss M, Richman EL, Andrews ME. Material hardship in U.S. families raising children with disabilities. Exceptional Children. 2008; 75:71-92.