What are the Psychological Effects of Hunger on Children?

Despite being born in one of the world’s wealthiest countries, a significant proportion of children in the United States are food insecure: They do not have enough nutritious food for an active, healthy life. Food insecurity often leads to hunger, the painful sensation caused by lack of food. Research shows how food insecurity and hunger can harm the health and educational outcomes of children. However, these harms can be prevented through effective programs such as SNAP, WIC, the National School Lunch Program, and the Summer Food Service Program, helping children to reach their full potential.

Many children in the United States don’t have enough to eat. In 2014, 15.3 million children in the United States were food insecure (about 1 in 5). These children lived in

households that were unable to always provide adequate food.i

Households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line (39.5%), single-parent households (35.3 % women; 21.7% men), and Black (26.1%) and Hispanic (22.4%) households had particularly high levels of food insecurity.ii

Low-income families report that eating healthily is especially difficult because fresh fruits and vegetables in their neighborhoods are rare, expensive, and of poor quality.iii

Hunger hurts children in multiple ways. Low food security and hunger can contribute to toxic stress – the strong, unrelieved activation of the body’s stress

management system.iv

A lack of healthy food can lead to malnutrition,v health problems caused by a nutritionally-deficient diet.

We all have a limited cognitive bandwidth. People tend to spend their limited mental reserves on resources that they lack, and so hungry children focus on food, which can lead to neglect of other areas of life such as schoolwork.vi

Food insecurity is frequently stigmatized through media messages and public discourse. Families often work to keep their food insecurity hidden, and children may feel stigmatized when using free and reduced lunch programs and other social services.vii

Hunger has negative outcomes for kids. Studies show that food insufficiency is associated with higher prevalence of poor health conditions, including

stomachaches, headaches, and colds;viii and that severe hunger can predict chronic illness among both preschool- and school-age children.ix

Hunger-related toxic stress can negatively affect brain development, learning, information processing, and academic achievement in children.x

Malnutrition in the first years of life is especially harmful, impacting physical growth, decreasing resistance to disease, limiting the size and functioning of children’s brain structures, and stunting intellectual capacity.xi

Severe hunger is associated with anxiety and depression among children.xii Research shows that families’ lack of sufficient food, irrespective of their income, is associated with depressive disorders and suicidality in adolescents.xiii

Food insecure children may perform worse on academic achievement tests and learn less during the school year.xiv

Children may feel ashamed and isolated by the stigma associated with their lack of food.xv

What can we do about child hunger in the United States? If properly funded and implemented, our nutrition assistance infrastructure can mitigate hunger and food insecurity, enabling children to reach their full potential. For example:

The Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) has been shown to increase food expenditures and decrease food insecurity for low-income households,xvi and is associated with higher high-school graduation rates and better health outcomes in adulthood.xvii

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) benefits are associated with infant health and growth, signifying less malnutrition.xviii

Researchers have found persuasive evidence that the National School Lunch Program reduces food insecurity.xix The Community Eligibility Provision can reduce stigma and encourage participation by low-income families.xx

$30 per month per child allocated through the Summer Food Service Program reduces very low food-security among children; $60 per month produces even greater reductions.xxi

Many creative local and statewide programs have begun to address the issue of food deserts – neighborhoods lacking access to healthy food – through community gardens, farmers markets, and tax incentives for stores providing fresh produce, with positive preliminary results.xxii

i Weinfeld, N. S., Mills, G., Borger, C., Gearing, M., Macaluso, T., Montaquila, J., & Zedlewski, S. (2014). Hunger in America 2014: National report

prepared for Feeding America. Washington, DC: Westat and the Urban Institute. ii Coleman-Jenson, A. Rabbit, M. P., Gregory, C., & Singh, A. (2015, September). Household food security in the United States in 2014 (Report No.

ERR-194). Washington, DC, US: United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. iii Haynes-Maslow, L., Parsons, S.E., Wheeler, S.B., & Leone, L.A. (2013). A qualitative study of perceived barriers to fruit and vegetable consumption

among low-income populations, North Carolina, 2011. Preventing Chronic Disease: Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy, 10, E34. iv Chilton, Mariana and Rabinowich, Jenny (2012). Toxic stress and child hunger over the life course: Three case studies. Journal of Applied Research

on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 3(1). v Nyaradi, A., Li, J., Hickling, S., Foster, J., & Oddy, W. H. (2013). The role of nutrition in children’s neurocognitive development, from pregnancy

through childhood. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7(97), 1-16. vi Shah, A. K., Mullainathan, S., & Shafir, E. (2012). Some consequences of having too little. Science, 338, 682-685. vii American Psychological Association. (2016). Effects of poverty, hunger, and homelessness on children and youth. Retrieved from

http://www.apa.org/pi/families/poverty.aspx viii Alaimo, K., Olson, C., Frongillo EA, J., & Briefel, R. (2001). Food insufficiency, family income, and health in US preschool and school-aged

children. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 781-786. ix Weinreb, L., Wehler, C., Perloff, J., Scott, R., Hosmer, D., Sagor, L., Gundersen, C. (2002). Hunger: Its impact on children’s health and mental

health. Pediatrics, 110(4), e41. x Chilton, Mariana and Rabinowich, Jenny (2012). Toxic stress and child hunger over the life course: Three case studies. Journal of Applied Research

on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 3(1). xi Prado, E. L., & Dewey, K. G. (2014). Nutrition and brain development in early life. Nutrition Reviews, 72, 267-284. xii Weinreb, L., Wehler, C., Perloff, J., Scott, R., Hosmer, D., Sagor, L., Gundersen, C. (2002). Hunger: Its impact on children’s health and mental

health. Pediatrics, 110(4), e41. xiii Alaimo, K., Olson, C.M., Frongillo, E.A. (2002). Family food insufficiency, but not low family income, is positively associated with dysthymia and

suicide symptoms in adolescents. The Journal of Nutrition, 132(4), 719-25. xiv Taras, H. (2005). Nutrition and student performance at school. Journal of School Health, 75, 199-213. xv American Psychological Association. (2016). Effects of poverty, hunger, and homelessness on children and youth. Retrieved from

http://www.apa.org/pi/families/poverty.aspx xvi Nord, M., & Prell, M. (2011). Food security improved following the 2009 ARRA increase in SNAP benefits. Washington, DC, US: United States

Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. xvii Hoynes, H., Whitmore Schanzenbach, D., & Almond, D. (2016). Long run impacts of childhood access to the safety net. American Economic

Review, 106, 903-934. xviii Children’s Health Watch (2004). The safety net in action: Protecting the health and nutrition of young American children. Retrieved from

http://www.childrenshealthwatch.org/upload/resource/safety_net_in_action_2004.pdf xix Gundersen, C., Kreider, B., & Pepper, J. (2012). The impact of the National School Lunch Program on child health: A nonparametric bounds

analysis. Journal of Econometrics, 166, 79-91. xx Neuberger, Z. (2016). House bill restricting free school meals option could increase food insecurity in high-poverty neighborhoods. Washington,

DC, US: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. xxi Collins, A. M., Briefel, R., Klerman, J.A., Wolf, A., Rowe, G., Enver, A.,…Bell, S. (2014). Summer electronic benefits transfer for children (SEBTC)

demonstration: 2013 final report. Washington, DC, US: United States Department of Agriculture. xxii United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (2009). Access to affordable and nutritious food: Measuring and

understanding food deserts and their consequences. Retrieved from http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/242675/ap036_1_.pdf