Age and Gender Differences in Food Security in a Low-Income Inner-City Population

Age and Gender Differences in Food Security in a Low-Income Inner-City Population In a study of approximately 1,500 very disadvantaged families with children in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio from 1999 to 2005, significant differences in levels of food security are found across children of different ages and genders. Using answers to unique survey questions about food security for a specific child in the family, food security levels are found to be much lower among older boys and girls than among younger ones, and to be lower among younger girls than younger boys but higher among older girls than older boys. Differences in money income, financial strain, nutritional needs, and other factors explain a large fraction of these differences, and some subgroups of families exhibit no differences in food security across different children at all. Nevertheless, many children in the worst-off families experience much higher levels of food hardship than others, which should be a source of social concern.