Abraham, S. orcid.org/0000-0001-8786-3789, Breeze, P. orcid.org/0000-0002-4189-8676, Lambie-Mumford, H. orcid.org/0000-0001-5731-3866 et al. (1 more author) (2025) Household food insecurity and its impact on child and adolescent health outcomes in Western High-Income Countries: a rapid review of mechanisms and associations. Public Health Nutrition. ISSN: 1368-9800
Abstract
Objective
The primary aim of this rapid review was to provide a summary of the mechanisms by which HFI is associated with child and adolescent health outcomes. The secondary aim was to identify key HFI determinants, provide an updated account of HFI-associated child/ adolescent health outcomes and build a conceptual map to illustrate and consolidate the findings.
Design
A rapid review was performed using EMBASE, Medline, Web of Science and The Cochrane library. Inclusion criteria were observational High- income English-language studies, studies evaluating the mechanisms and associations between HFI and child health outcomes using statistical methods.
Setting
High income English-speaking countries.
Participants
Child (3-10 years) and adolescent populations (11-24 years) and their parents, if appropriate.
Results
Eight studies reported on the mechanisms by which HFI is related to child health outcomes, suggesting that maternal mental health and parenting stress play mediating roles between HFI and child/adolescent mental health, behaviour and child weight status. Sixty studies reported on associations between HFI and various child health outcomes. HFI had significant impact on diet and mental health, which appeared to be interrelated. Sociodemographic factors were identified as determinants of HFI and moderated the relationship between HFI and child/adolescent health outcomes.
Conclusions
There is a gap in the evidence explaining the mechanistic role of diet quality between HFI and child weight status, as well as the interplay between diet, eating behaviours and mental health on physical child health outcomes. The conceptual map highlights opportunities for intervention and policy evaluations using complex systems approaches.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Food insecurity; adolescent health outcomes; child health outcomes; conceptual framework; mechanisms |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 26 Sep 2025 14:12 |
Last Modified: | 26 Sep 2025 14:12 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/s1368980025101092 |
Related URLs: | |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:232293 |