Food Stamp Participation and Child Outcomes: The Effects of Federal Food Assistance Programs on Children’s Health, Behavior, and Academic Performance

Among those who participate in federal food assistance programs, children comprise an overwhelming portion. While children represent only a quarter of the US population, they account for 40 percent of Americans in poverty and almost 70 percent of those on welfare. Unfortunately, this puts children at a disproportionate risk for an abundance of adverse outcomes – ranging from minor health problems to childhood obesity, negative behavioral, psychosocial, and academic outcomes – which are likely to affect the poor and food insecure population. Because such adverse effects exist among the low-income and food insecure populations, and because these are the populations most likely to enroll in federal food assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program (FSP) – of which children comprise a disproportionate percentage – the relationship between food stamp program participation, and children’s health, academic, and psychosocial outcomes is of much interest for policymakers who aim to reduce these negative effects among such a vulnerable demographic. Using 2007 data from Transition to Adulthood (TA) and the Child Development Supplement (CDS), as well as supplementary data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), a nationally representative longitudinal study, the effect of food stamp participation on obesity, body weight, academic achievement, and psychosocial outcomes is analyzed for children and young adults aged 10 to 23 years. The findings will generate policy implications for potential modifications of SNAP which will reduce the negative health, academic, and behavioral problems potentially associated with food stamp program participation among children.