Household food insecurity and children's school engagement

Data on 11,614 children (ages 6–11) from the 1999 National Survey of American Families were used to examine a model linking household food insecurity, child health, and emotional well-being to school engagement. The results, using path analyses revealed that (i) the proposed model fit the data quite well; (ii) food insecurity predicted health status, emotional well-being, and negatively predicted school engagement; (iii) health status predicted emotional well-being, and negatively predicted school engagement. Finally, emotional well-being negatively predicted school engagement. Results of mediation analyses showed that food insecurity had a significant indirect effect on emotional well-being via its effect on health status, and a significant indirect effect on school engagement via its effects on health status and emotional well-being.