Participation in the National School Lunch Program and food security: An analysis of transitions into kindergarten

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Food insecurity National school lunch program Kindergarten We use variation in state kindergarten eligibility dates to explore the protective effects of NSLP participation on household food security by focusing on the research question: What is the impact of the NSLP on household food insecurity among households with a kindergarten-aged child in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study — Birth cohort (ECLS-B)? Our modeling approach provides consistent support for the contention that the NLSP reduces food insecurity. Additionally, we find that paying full price for school lunch is associated with increases in food insecurity among our low-income sample. Sensitivity analysis demonstrates that controlling for the reduction in child care hours among low-income households does not diminish the size of the NSLP effect. Additionally, school entry is not associated with reductions in food insecurity among families whose incomes are above 185% of the federal poverty line. Finally, our findings are robust to excluding twins. This finding is consistent with a growing literature documenting the benefits of school lunch programs but is unique for the focus on the period of school entry, at time when behavioral and cognitive patterns of school outcomes are being established for the future. The impact of food insecurity on children's development is well documented. From a developmental perspective, it is believed that food insecurity has cumulative effects at different stages of development During infancy, hunger has negative effects during the period of neurodevelopment. Controlled experiments with animals suggest that hunger results in irreversible damage to brain development such as that associated with the insulation of neural fibers (Yaqub, 2002). The damage associated with a lack of nutritional intake accumulated during the first 2 years of life include susceptibility to infections, slowed cognitive development, slow growth, susceptibility to chronic diseases, girls are at higher risk of having low-birth weight babies, and other non-health related problems such as reduced school performance, increased school dropouts and reduced productivity during adulthood Neurologists and psychologists suggest that the impact of food insecurity on learning can be attributed to two mechanisms. First, there is a direct effect on cerebral functioning, which defines child's cognitive abilities. Second, there is an indirect effect on physical and psychological health that contributes to distraction, absenteeism and low motivational abilities for learning. Thus, the evidence indicates that the effects of nutritional inadequacy persist across childhood but that the …