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Food Insecurity and Childhood Overweight: Do Race and Sex Matter in Head Start?

Jebaraj Asirvatham

This study was conducted to inform if there are differences across race and sex so programs or policies could be developed to address different groups if needed. The relationship between food insecurity and childhood overweight in low-income families was examined by race and sex on a sample of 277 Head Start children using the least squares regressions method. Consistent with previous literature, this study found that food-insecure children did not show a statistically significant higher likelihood of being overweight compared to food secure children. However, the analysis reveals minor difference based on food insecurity among low-income families by race and sex. There was no difference between the weight percentiles among White children based on food insecurity. Similarly, there was no difference between food secure and food insecure Black children. However, food secure children of other race are significantly lower in the BMI percentile rank relative to food secure White children and those of other race. Compared to food secure girls, boys are significantly higher on the BMI percentile rank regardless of their food security status. This study thus finds no difference in overweight in either race or sex based on food insecurity.