Food Insecurity and Parent Feeding Practices in Urban and Rural Children Ages 7-12 years.

Objective: To examine associations between food insecurity and parent feeding practices for children ages 7-12 years; to determine differences between cohorts in urban and rural communities.

Design: Secondary analysis using baseline data from 2 randomized controlled trials: HOME Plus (urban) and NU-HOME (rural).

Participants: Convenience sample of 264 parent-child dyads. Children were 51.5% female, 9.28 ± 1.45 years.

Variables Measured: Dependent variables included the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) restrictive feeding subscale, parent modeling of fruits and vegetables score, and family meal frequency (FMF) at breakfast and the evening meal. Food insecurity was the primary independent variable.

Analysis: Multivariable linear or Poisson regression for each outcome.

Results: Food insecurity was associated with a 26% lower weekly rate of FMF at breakfast (95% CI 6%-42%; p=0.02). In stratified analysis, this association was only in the rural NU-HOME study (44% lower weekly rate; 95% CI 19%-63%; p=0.003). Food insecurity was not associated with CFQ restrictive score, parent modeling score, or FMF at the evening meal.

Conclusions And Implications: Food insecurity was associated with less frequent family breakfast, but not with other parent feeding practices. Future studies could investigate supportive mechanisms for positive feeding practices in households experiencing food insecurity.