Food Insecurity and Mental Well-Being Among Low-Income Families During COVID-19 Pandemic

PURPOSE: To examine the interaction effects of adult and child food insecurity on parents’ and children’s mental well-being. DESIGN: An online survey study was conducted. SETTING: Two Head Start organizations and the Qualtrics Panel. SUBJECTS: Four hundred and eight parents under poverty level and having a child aged 3–5 years participated. MEASURES: Food insecurity was assessed by the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module. Parents’ stress, anxiety and depression; and children’s sadness, fear, anger, and positive affect were measured using instruments from HealthMeasures. ANALYSIS: Multivariate general linear models were performed in SPSS. RESULTS: Mean age was 31 years, 17% Hispanic, 21% Black. About 51% parents and 37% children were food insecure. After adjusting for demographics and child food insecurity, parents with adult food insecurity had higher stress (B = 2.65, p = .002), anxiety (B = 3.02, p = .001), and depression (B = 3.66, p = .001); and fear in their children (B = 5.03, p = .002) than those without adult food insecurity. Similarly, parents reporting child food insecurity had greater depression than those having no child food insecurity (B = 4.61, p = .020). Black parents had lower stress (B = −1.91, p = .018), anxiety (B = −2.26, p = .012), and depression (B = −4.17, p < .001) than their White counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: The study’s results underscore the importance of reducing food insecurity in both parents and children as a whole family system to promote mental well-being of low-income families