Food insecurity among homeless and runaway adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of food insecurity and factors related to it among homeless and runaway adolescents.


METHODS
Computer-assisted personal interviews were conducted with homeless and runaway adolescents directly on the streets and in shelters.


METHODS
Interviews were conducted in eight Midwest cities: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Kansas City, Lincoln, Omaha, St. Louis and Wichita.


METHODS
The subjects were 428 (187 males; 241 females) homeless and runaway adolescents aged 16-19 years. Average age of the adolescents was 17.4 (standard deviation 1.05) years.


RESULTS
About one-third of the adolescents had experienced food insecurity in the past 30 days. Factors associated with food insecurity were age of adolescent, a history of caretaker neglect and abuse, having ever spent time directly on the street, a small post-runaway social network, and engaging in deviant and non-deviant street food-acquisition strategies.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on these findings, our conservative estimate is that nationally more than 165,000 homeless and runaway adolescents experienced food insecurity in the past 30 days. These adolescents are largely hidden from public notice and they are usually missed in studies that address national hunger.
Whitbeck
Les B
LB
University of Nebraska--Lincoln, Department of Sociology, 68588-0324, USA. lwhitbeck2@unl.edu
Chen
Xiaojin
X
Johnson
Kurt D
KD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018453:Homeless Youth / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D008297:Male; D012419:Runaway Behavior; D012944:Social Support; D014481:United States