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Parents are not fully knowledgeable of their children's experiences of food‐insecurity
Author(s) -
Escobar-Alegría Jessica L,
Frongillo Edward A,
Fram Maryah S,
Pérez-Garay Melly,
Macauda Mark M,
Billings Deborah L
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.28.3
Subject(s) - food insecurity , psychology , developmental psychology , food security , geography , archaeology , agriculture
Although children and adults experience food insecurity differently, it is commonly assumed that parents are knowledgeable about their children's experiences. To examine this assumption, we explored and assessed parent knowledge of child food insecurity experiences in 16 Hispanic food‐insecure families. Separate in‐depth interviews were conducted in Spanish with a child, the mother, and another adult (when applicable). Interview data were analyzed thematically, applying previous research showing that children experience food insecurity through domains of awareness and responsibility. We compared child versus adult reports of what children experienced. Parents were fully knowledgeable of children's cognitive and emotional awareness of food insecurity in only 7 out of 16 families. Although half of children had initiated actions to help manage food insecurity, no parents were aware of this. No parents were knowledgeable of children's physical hunger or efforts to generate new food resources. Overall, parents had incomplete or inaccurate information of children's experiences of food insecurity; this is of serious concern since parental report is the basis for current monitoring and estimation of the prevalence of child food insecurity and hunger in the U.S. Funded by University of South Carolina.