Household Food Insecurity (HFI) is a frequent challenge for children living in poverty that impacts social, emotional, and behavioral development. Federally assisted meal programs, such as the National School Breakfast Program, address HFI for students living in poverty through free or reduced-price breakfast. However, there are challenges for…

This study was conducted to explore the experiences of educators with mealtime behaviours of children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in schools, and to explore the strategies undertaken in schools to improve nutrition among these children. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 educators of various special schools across…

Background: Exposure to multiple stressors and lack of access to resources place rural children at high risk for adverse consequences. Family Stress Model guided this study to examine relations between two stressors--food insecurity and maternal depressive symptoms, and behavior problems among younger and older rural children. Objective: To test…

One in three children in this country is overweight or obese. One in five children lives in food-insecure households that struggle to put food on the table. Both problems affect millions of children. Both can occur in the same child at the same time. Both are linked to poor academic performance, behavior problems, and high rates of school…

Background: Given that an alarming 1 in 5 children in the USA are at risk of hunger (1 in 3 among black and Latino children), and that 3.9 million households with children are food insecure, it is crucial to understand how household food insecurity (HFI) affects the present and future well-being of our children. Purpose: The objectives of this…

Objective: This study investigated the associations of poverty and food insecurity over a 2-year period with internalizing and externalizing problems in a large, community-based sample. Method: A total of 2,810 children were interviewed between ages 4 and 14 years at baseline, and between ages 5 and 16 years at follow-up. Primary caregivers…

Several decades of scientific inquiry on the effect of malnutrition on brain function in early life are summarized, and the findings are related to more current trends in child eating patterns and the use of special dietary regimes for children with learning disabilities. (SW)