Hunger and Obesity Understanding a Food Insecurity Paradigm: Workshop Summary (2011) / Chapter Skim
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6 Socioecological Perspectives: The Family and Household Level
6 Socioecological Perspectives: The Family and Household Level
Pages 85-98
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From page 85... ...
Families can have both protective and deleterious effects on food insecurity and obesity -- sometimes at almost the same time. The complex dynamics within families provide a rich area for research, said Amy Yaroch, executive director of the Center for Human Nutrition in Nebraska, who moderated the session on family and household perspectives at the workshop.
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From page 86... ...
The sample included African Americans, whites, and Hispanics with children ages 9 to 17. Of these families, 17 had very low food security, 12 had low food security, and 9 were food secure.
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From page 87... ...
Emotional awareness constitutes feelings such as worry, sadness, and anger that are related to knowing about food scarcity and the challenges it creates, Frongillo continued. It includes being aware of worries about food and also worries about what parents and others who are supposed to be providing for the family are going through.
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From page 88... ...
Children try to protect parents, especially mothers, and other children, especially younger children and poorer children. However, Frongillo said, sometimes parents do not protect children, especially when there are mental health problems, unemployment, drug or alcohol problems, or deep poverty.
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From page 89... ...
"We know there are lots of effects on children that must be operating through those pathways." Frongillo said that families balance capabilities and assets against demands and stressors. They also balance among the goals that they have for their children, including goals for security, certainty, safety, good nutrition and health, education, emotional and social development, family cohesion, belonging, acceptance, and feeling normal.
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From page 90... ...
SOURCE: NRC, 2006. Figure 6-1 OK as is.eps In late 2010, Sesame Workshop was scheduled to release a program developed to help food-insecure families cope in a way that does not promote obesity, Frongillo reported.
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From page 91... ...
Household Context Influences Well-Being Household context affects dietary intake, nutritional status, hunger, distress, adverse family and social interactions, worry, anxiety, and well-being. Household context also contributes to six categories of vulnerability: 1.
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From page 92... ...
Research Findings As examples of this research, Chilton described three qualitative studies done in Philadelphia. The first was the Women's Health, Hunger, and Human Rights study, in which she and her colleagues interviewed 34 women who used food cupboards or food pantries in Philadelphia and conducted four focus groups (Chilton et al., 2002; Chilton and Booth, 2007)
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From page 93... ...
NUTRITIONAL CHALLENGES IN TEXAS COLONIAS Joseph Sharkey, professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Health and director of the Program for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, School of Rural Public Health at the Texas A&M Health Sciences Center, discussed the work he has done with Mexicano families in Texas colonias. Colonias run across the entire border of Texas from El Paso to Brownsville.
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From page 94... ...
She is struggling with this competing demand of making sure there is enough food there for her family to eat but at the same time keep her son free from the gangs." Other factors that influence food availability in the home and subsequently food choice include wage earners' poor health, limited storage and cooking facilities, inadequate or costly transportation, and competing demands for resources. Mothers seek to go beyond basic nourishment to communicate their love, their values, their expert use of resources, and their ability to provide delicious and available food.
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From page 95... ...
Sharkey listed a number of high-priority research gaps: • Understanding the context in which people live, • Establishing a frame of reference for measurements, • Investigating the frequency and duration of food insecurity, • Analyzing the role of physical activity, • Thinking about how food security might differ between the family and the individual, and • Facilitating improvements in food security. GROUP DISCUSSION Moderator: Amy Yaroch During the group discussion period, points raised by participants included the following: Measures of Food Insecurity In response to a question from Amy Yaroch about whether 24-hour recalls of foods eaten pick up such things as sugar added to coffee, Sharkey expressed the opinion that such measures probably severely underestimate the extent of food insecurity, because the families in his survey believe that they can make a meal out of anything, even just a little hominy.
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From page 96... ...
Factors such as stress, advertising, and the cyclicity of food insecurity all establish links between poverty and obesity, and these problems could be tackled simultaneously. Frongillo replied that food insecurity is a valuable marker of families that are struggling and at risk for many problems, including obesity.
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From page 97... ...
2010a. Community and household food avail ability: Insights from a community nutrition assessment conducted in two large areas of colonias along the Texas-Mexico border.
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