Food Insecurity and Adolescent Problematic Behavior: Testing the Family Stress Model

Background: Food insecurity can have harmful influences on adolescent behavioral development, including internalizing and externalizing behavioral issues. Adolescents are sensitive to their environments, so perceiving household material needs could directly influence behavior. The Family Stress Model framework suggests that there may also be an indirect effect of food insecurity through caregiver mental health (stress), which may, in turn, impact the adolescent. Parental mental health and stress may influence the adolescent through a lack of warm supportive parenting or an increase in the use of punitive parenting. We explore and model these pathways, also checking to see if these relationships vary in families with higher and lower levels of assets.

Research Method: Data. This study uses secondary data drawn from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The analytic sample includes 643 adolescents (Mean age=13.7, SD=2.6), and about half are female. Measures. Food insecurity is based on a USDA 18-item measure that investigates hardships in obtaining well balanced or sufficient meals. Caregiver psychological distress is based on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. Adolescent problematic behaviors are based on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, which investigates one’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Assets include liquid assets (e.g., savings). Covariates include age, gender, race and ethnicity, educational attainment, household income, household structure, and residential area. Analytic approaches. Multi-group path analyses are applied to clarify the direct and indirect relations between food insecurity and adolescent problematic behaviors. Model fitness indexes used for model evaluation include RMSEA, CFI, TLI, and SRMR.

Results: Multi-group path analyses found that a direct association between both food insecurity and adolescent problematic behavior and the indirect association mediated by caregiver psychological distress. Both relationships are stronger in asset-poor families than in non-asset poor families. Results confirmed hypotheses drawn from the Family Stress Model.

Discussion: These findings indicate that the family stress processes are stronger for families with insufficient assets. More specifically, compared to non-asset poor families, the intergenerational influences of food insecurity on caregivers and their children are more prominent for families living with asset poverty. For policy makers and practitioners, there are two main implications. The first is that material supports have been found again to be important in family functioning, highlighting the need for financial support and poverty alleviation programs. Second, practitioners should be sensitive to the higher risks faced by asset-poor families, and their increased susceptibility to stressors.