| Project: Exploring the Link Between Food Assistance Programs and Child Obesity |
| Award Year: 2006 |
| Amount of award, fiscal 2006: $235,000.00 |
| Institution: The Urban Institute |
| Principal Investigator: Sharon Long |
| Status: Completed |
| Detailed Objective: The goal of USDA’s food assistance programs for children is to promote their health and well-being, including healthy growth and development, by reducing hunger and providing access to a nutritious diet. A key concern for child health and development in the United States is the rapid increase in overweight among children. The goal of this study is to explore the causal path from participation in the Food Stamp Program and school meals programs (the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program) to child weight. The hypothesis to be tested is that participation in food assistance programs does not have a direct effect on child weight. Rather, it affects individual and family food behaviors (including food intake and food security) that, in turn, affect child weight. The study will use longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to examine linkages between participation in food assistance programs and child weight. |
| Topic: Obesity, School Lunch and Breakfast, SNAP/Food Stamp Program |
| Dataset: Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K) |