Concordance and Discordance of the Knowledge, Understanding, and Description of Children's Experience of Food Insecurity Among Hispanic Adults and Children

Abstract

Food insecurity is highly detrimental for children, who experience food insecurity differently than do adults. We aimed to understand concordance and discordance of adults' and children's knowledge, understanding, and description of children's experience of food insecurity. In-depth interviews were conducted with the primary caregiver, another caregiver, and a child 9 to 16 years of age in 16 Hispanic families at risk of food insecurity in South Carolina. Adults often lacked knowledge of the food insecurity experiences of their children, which presents challenges for adults with roles as caregivers, educators, or policy makers to recognize and address these experiences.

Household food insecurity and children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour in the United States: the Healthy Communities Study

“…A previous study demonstrated that the two-item tool was sensitive, specific and valid when tested in a sample of 30 098 families with young children of which 23 % were food insecure (17) , but these two items may not capture the experience of all individuals in the household, particularly children. Although parents attempt to protect their children from food insecurity, children are often aware of food insecurity and take responsibility for it (27) . Children's experiences of food insecurity are often not known by parents (27) .…”

Adolescent food insecurity in rural Sindh, Pakistan: a cross-sectional survey

“…This emphasizes that the measurement of household-level FI may not be a true reflection of adolescents FI and should be measured separately. Adolescents are at an age where they can sense the stress in the house and try to play their part in buffering the effects of FI [25]. Literature reports that adolescents voluntarily cut-down their portion size during food shortages which at times go unnoticed by adults of the family [38].…”

“…Frongillo explained a few reasons for parents' lack of information regarding adolescent FI through their qualitative work. The author wrote that when parents reduce their portion sizes, do not discuss the FI situation of households with their children, they assume that they have protected the children from hunger and anxiety of FI [25]. Hence, adolescents' FI is under-reported by adults of the household.…”

“…However, adolescents take cue from the change in household meals or expenditure pattern and are aware of FI in household. They give up their share of food or generate resources to improve the FI situation [25,39,40].…”

“…Many studies captured FI among adolescents by indirect response from their caregivers. Globally different studies have determined discordance between reporting of FI by parents and children [19,[22][23][24][25]. Consequently aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of food insecurity among adolescent when they are respondent for themselves and compare it with the household FI.…”