Johns Hopkins University, United States of America.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, United States of America.
Prev Med. 2020 Dec;141:106283. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106283. Epub 2020 Oct 6.
Food insecurity is a serious public health concern, affecting approximately 15 million children in the U.S. alone. Exposure to household food insecurity has been linked to a host of deleterious outcomes among infants and children, including mental and behavioral health outcomes. Even so, scholars have yet to examine the connection between household food insecurity and early experiences of school punishment among preschool-aged children. The current study employs a nationally representative sample of 6100 preschool-aged children from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health. Difference-of-means t-tests and multivariate logistic regression models examining the link between mild and moderate-to-severe household food insecurity and suspension/expulsion among preschool-aged children were conducted in 2020. All estimates were calculated using sample weights that adjust for nonresponse, probability of selection, and the demographic distribution of the target population (i.e., U.S. children attending preschool in 2016). The findings indicate a robust association between moderate-to-severe household food insecurity and suspension/expulsion among preschool-aged children. This association emerged only among male children, as their risk of suspension/expulsion increased more than 11-fold in the presence of moderate-to-severe food insecurity. Additional analyses revealed that a large portion of this association was attenuated upon accounting for parenting stress and child mental health. Trauma-informed nutrition assistance programming as well as early mental health assessment and consultation may yield collateral benefits in the form of reductions in preschool suspension/expulsion. Given the findings, moreover, future research should consider the role of household food insecurity in contributing to health inequities that perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline.
食品安全问题是一个严重的公共卫生问题，仅在美国就影响了大约 1500 万儿童。家庭食品安全问题与婴儿和儿童的许多不良后果有关，包括心理健康和行为健康问题。尽管如此，学者们尚未研究家庭食品安全问题与学龄前儿童早期学校惩罚经历之间的联系。本研究采用了 2016 年全国儿童健康调查中 6100 名学龄前儿童的全国代表性样本。2020 年进行了差异均值 t 检验和多元逻辑回归模型，以检验轻度和中度至重度家庭食品安全问题与学龄前儿童停学/开除之间的联系。所有估计值均使用样本权重计算，这些权重可调整无响应、选择概率以及目标人群（即 2016 年在美国上幼儿园的儿童）的人口分布。研究结果表明，中度至重度家庭食品安全问题与学龄前儿童停学/开除之间存在密切关联。这种关联仅出现在男童中，因为在存在中度至重度食品不安全的情况下，他们被停学/开除的风险增加了 11 倍以上。进一步的分析表明，在考虑到父母压力和儿童心理健康后，这一关联的很大一部分得到了缓解。以创伤知情的营养援助计划以及早期心理健康评估和咨询为基础，可以减轻因停学/开除而导致的负面影响。此外，鉴于这些发现，未来的研究应考虑家庭食品安全问题在导致健康不平等方面的作用，这种不平等现象会使学校到监狱的管道永久化。
