Parenting Stress in Households Experiencing Food Insecurity: Mental Health as a Mediator?

Objectives: To examine associations between food insecurity and parenting stress and assess the extent to which parent and child mental health explain these associations.

Methods: Cross-sectional data from the 2016-2019 National Survey of Children's Health (N = 72,763) were pooled to compare parenting stress between households experiencing different levels of food insecurity. Tests were then performed to determine whether parent and child mental health mediates the association between food insecurity and parenting stress.

Results: Parents in households experiencing mild food insecurity had parenting stress scores that were 0.23 standard deviations higher than parents in food secure households. These parents were also 1.23% points (161.84%) more likely to report handling the demands of parenting poorly compared to parents in food secure households. The association between parenting stress and food insecurity increased in magnitude with more severe household food insecurity; parents in households experiencing moderate-to-severe food insecurity had parenting stress scores that were 0.46 standard deviations higher than parents in food secure households, and these parents were 4.3% points (565.79%) more likely to report handling the demands of parenting poorly compared to parents in food secure households. Differences in child and parent mental health explained only some of the identified disparities in parenting stress.