Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Mail Stop 3063, 4700 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 335, Las Vegas, NV 89119, USA.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Las Vegas, USA.
Public Health Nutr. 2021 Oct;24(15):5074-5080. doi: 10.1017/S136898002100063X. Epub 2021 Feb 15.
Food security and school attendance are both important for health, well-being and academic performance of children and adolescents. However, their intersection remains underexamined, especially in the USA. The current study considered the association between elementary school-level absenteeism and household food insecurity.
The current study linked school-level absenteeism and household food insecurity rates using geographic information system mapping and applied the tobit regression model to examine their association.
The Clark County, Nevada, public school district - the fifth largest in the USA and in a state with disproportionate food insecurity and chronic school absenteeism rates.
Data consisted of school-level absenteeism rates from 185 elementary schools and census tract-level household food insecurity rates.
Average daily attendance rates were lower for schools with catchment areas that had higher average household food insecurity (FI), decreasing by -0·0232 % per 1 % increase in FI rate (P-value = 0·022). They were also significantly associated with most absenteeism risk factors. Average daily attendance rate was negatively associated with Free and Reduced Lunch eligibility percentage (-0·010 per 1 % increase in FI, P-value < 0·001) and Individualized Education Program participation percentage (-0·039 % per 1 % increase in FI, P-value = 0·033), but positively associated with parent-teacher conference participation rate (0·006 % per 1 % increase in FI, P-value = 0·025) and white student percentage (0·011 % per 1 % increase in FI, P-value = 0·022).
The current study suggests a link between household food insecurity and elementary school-level absenteeism. Understanding this link is important for policy and practice because schools are frequent settings for food insecurity mitigation interventions.
食品安全和出勤率对于儿童和青少年的健康、幸福和学业成绩都很重要。然而，它们之间的关系仍未得到充分研究，尤其是在美国。本研究考虑了小学级缺勤率与家庭粮食不安全之间的关系。
本研究使用地理信息系统制图将学校级缺勤率与家庭粮食不安全率联系起来，并应用 Tobit 回归模型来检验它们之间的关联。
内华达州克拉克县公立学区 - 美国第五大的学区，该州的粮食不安全和慢性学校缺勤率不成比例。
数据包括来自 185 所小学的学校级缺勤率和普查区级家庭粮食不安全率。
拥有较高家庭粮食不安全率（FI）的学校的平均日 attendance 率较低，FI 率每增加 1%，缺勤率就降低-0.0232%（P 值=0.022）。它们还与大多数缺勤风险因素显著相关。平均日 attendance 率与免费和减价午餐资格百分比呈负相关（FI 每增加 1%，缺勤率降低 0.010%，P 值<0.001），与个别化教育计划参与百分比呈负相关（FI 每增加 1%，缺勤率降低 0.039%，P 值=0.033），但与家长-教师会议参与率呈正相关（FI 每增加 1%，缺勤率增加 0.006%，P 值=0.025），与白人学生比例呈正相关（FI 每增加 1%，缺勤率增加 0.011%，P 值=0.022）。
本研究表明家庭粮食不安全与小学级缺勤率之间存在联系。了解这种联系对于政策和实践很重要，因为学校是粮食不安全缓解干预措施的常见场所。
