Daily Food Insecurity and Parent and Child Well-Being: Variation in Associations by Food Insecurity Type

Food insecurity undermines children’s social-emotional development, but less is known about how different aspects of food insecurity differentially impact outcomes. Food insecurity can vary in severity and in whether parents or children within a household directly experience it. Using repeated daily observations of food insecurity and parent and child well-being, this study examines how different types of food insecurity shape outcomes. Drawn from a predominantly rural, low-income sample of parents (N = 272, 90% mothers, mean age = 35, 61.4% Latinx, 8.6% Black, 30.0% White/other) and their school-aged children (ages 4–11, 50% female), results indicate that negative effects on parent and child well-being increase alongside food insecurity severity, and that child functioning is impaired even when their food consumption is not affected.