title: Risk and protective factors for adult and child hunger among low-income housed and homeless female-headed families.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We sought to identify factors associated with adult or child hunger.
  
  
  METHODS
  Low-income housed and homeless mothers were interviewed about socioeconomic, psychosocial, health, and food sufficiency information. Multinomial logistic regression produced models predicting adult or child hunger.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Predictors of adult hunger included mothers' childhood sexual molestation and current parenting difficulties, or "hassles." Risk factors for child hunger included mothers' childhood sexual molestation, housing subsidies, brief local residence, having more or older children, and substandard housing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study found that the odds of hunger, although affected by resource constraints in low-income female-headed families, were also worsened by mothers' poor physical and mental health. Eliminating hunger thus may require broader interventions than food programs.
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, 01655, USA.
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wehler
authors.forename: Linda F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Weinreb
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Huntington
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hosmer
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fletcher
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gundersen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000191:economics; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics; D006304:Health Status; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D006798:Housing / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D008404:Massachusetts / Q000453:epidemiology; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016487:Parenting; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D011632:Public Assistance; D012307:Risk Factors