Children at the most risk of very low food security are more often being raised in immigrant families. While under a quarter of all children have immigrant parents, a disproportionate amount (40%) comprise the population of children living under the most severe conditions of food insecurity. Family structure is a key predictive factor among low-income families. Cildren living with a single parent or living in a more complex family are at an increased risk of low or very low food security, compared with children living in either a 100% biological family or a stepfamily. Notably, mother’s work patterns among low-income families are much stronger predictors of children’s food insecurity among stepfamilies than in 100% biological families. Other results suggest that disability among adults living with children greatly increases the likelihood of the more extreme form of child food insecurity. Children living with a disabled adult are almost three times more likely to live under conditions of very low food security, compared to children living in a household without a disabled adult.
Research
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DP2012-07_balistreri.pdf