WIC Participation and Attenuation of Stress-Related Child Health Risks of Household Food Insecurity and Caregiver Depressive Symptoms

Abstract

Objectives: To examine how family stressors (household food insecurity and/or caregiver depressive symptoms) relate to child health and whether participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) attenuates stress-related child health risks.

Mothers’ Adverse Childhood Experiences and Their Young Children’s Development

“…Consistent with theories of risk accumulation, ACEs were categorized based on the number of caregivers' current mental and physical health status through multiple social and biological pathways including epigenetic changes related to early adversity. 14,45,46 This study's strength is in identifying associations between mothers' childhood exposure to adversity and their children's developmental risk, demonstrating that the correlates of early adversity are apparent not only in mothers' lifetime health, but also among their children. Other strengths include the study's recruitment from a children's hospital emergency department, in a high-poverty area, constituting a sentinel sample.…”

A Systematic Review of the Evaluation of Interventions to Tackle Children’s Food Insecurity

“…This, combined with the fact that infants of WIC claimants were of comparable weight and length to national averages, suggests that WIC may well attenuate nutritional and growth deficits among participants. Indeed, a further study found that WIC participation attenuates child health risks associated with family stressors, with WIC participants having higher odds of well child status and lower odds of poorer health status and overweight compared to eligible non-participants [46]. Lastly, WIC participation (along with SNAP and free school meals) has been associated with increased BMI and waist circumference for food-secure but not food-insecure children [32].…”

Child meal support program, food and nutrition insecurity, and health among Korean children

“…The quantity or variety of diets offered by CMSP might not have been sufficient enough to lead to a substantial reduction in FNI. Or, the effects of CMSP might have been underestimated due to the self-selection of children with greater vulnerabilities into the program (Black et al, 2012), which the propensity score method may not have completely addressed.…”

“…Stratified analyses revealed overall larger magnitudes of coefficients among nonparticipants, potentially reflecting the absence of supplemental food sources that may serve as a protective resource against health risks associated with FNI (Black et al, 2012). For CMC users, nonsignificant health differences according to meal frequency may suggest a weakened association between meal skipping and negative health consequences.…”