Exploring the bidirectional relationship between household food insecurity and primary caregiver's poor mental health in racially/ethnically diverse families

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether household food insecurity (FI) predicts primary caregiver’s poor mental health (MH), and vice versa, while estimating the underlying pathways. Methods: Longitudinal data from the Family Matters study of families (n=962) with children from six racial/ethnic groups (African-American, Latino, Hmong, Native American, Somali/Ethiopian, and White) in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, was collected in 2017-2018 and 2019-2020. Linear and logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between outcomes at follow-up and predictors at baseline. Results: Presence of FI at baseline predicted poor MH at follow-up. The predicted probability of a primary caregiver’s poor mental health increases by 3 percentage points (p<0.05) if the household were FI. Conclusions: While household FI and primary caregiver’s poor MH are associated with one another, this study shows that FI leads to poor MH but not the other way around. Policy implications: The intricate relationship between household FI and primary caregiver’s poor MH calls for policies and interventions that simultaneously and comprehensively address the two since the presence of one predicts the other.