Beyond household income: social determinants of child food insecurity in Italy

Abstract

Food insecurity is the inability to acquire or consume adequate or sufficient food, in socially acceptable ways. So, people are food insecure when they lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development, and an active and healthy life. Household food security in high-income countries has received increasing attention from policymakers and researchers over the past decades. An emerging body of literature has linked food insecurity to a variety of negative outcomes, particularly for children, confirming the importance of food security as an indicator of well-being and a legitimate target of public concern. In particular, children in food-insecure households may be at risk of poor health, developmental or behavioural problems. Understanding the determinants of food insecurity is crucial for developing child-specific effective national and local policies. While household income level is definitely linked to food insecurity, recent studies have also shown that socio-demographic factors – such as, education level – play a significant role. This study aims to identify, beyond the income-related measures, the social factors that impact on child food insecurity in the Italian context, using data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC, hereafter) national survey. Households with minors have been targeted from the dataset for this study. Through multivariate statistical analysis, the principal social determinants of child food insecurity have been investigated.