Poverty and Children's Nutritional Status in the United States

This study describes deficits in nutritional status among poor children in the United States using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth for children born between 1979 and 1988. The prevalence of low height-for-age (stunting) and low weight-for-height (wasting) is higher among children in persistently poor families. Differentials appear greater according to long-term rather than short-term income; hence, single-year income measures do not adequately capture the effects of persistent poverty on children's nutritional status. Differences in nutritional status between poor and nonpoor children remain large even when controls for other characteristics associated with poverty, such as low maternal educational attainment, single-parent family structure, young maternal age, low maternal academic ability, and minority racial identification, are included. The excess risks of stunting and wasting among poor children are not reduced appreciably when size of the infant at birth or mother's height and weight are controlled.