ArticlePublic health nutrition2021
Disentangling food insecurity and maternal depression: which comes first?
Article in Public health nutrition, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Social Vulnerability and Child Food Insecurity in Developed Countries: A Systematic Review.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Associations between mid-life and later-life food insecurity on probable dementia in a national sample of United States adults.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
- Feasibility and Acceptability of a Prevention-Focused Screener for Perinatal Depression Risk: Mixed Methods Cohort Study.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- Breastfeeding Practices, Insomnia Symptoms, Anxiety, and Depression Among Lebanese Mothers: A Cross-Sectional Study.Food science & nutrition · 2026Article
- Prevalence, risk and protective factors of postpartum depression and anxiety symptoms in the Allada district, Benin.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Exploring the relationship between food insecurity and postpartum depression: A scoping review.Archives of women's mental health · 2026Article
- Food insecurity, epigenetic age acceleration, and depression in middle-aged and older adults: a longitudinal cohort study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Food insecurity prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplant is associated with malnutrition and worse outcomes.Bone marrow transplantation · 2025Article
- Bidirectional Relationship Between Nutrition and Mental Health and Its Impact on the Health of Canadian Immigrants: An Integrative Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Food Insecurity and Coping Mechanisms: Impact on Maternal Mental Health and Child Malnutrition.Nutrients · 2025Observational
- Does food insecurity cause anxiety and depression? Evidence from the changing cost of living study.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Differing Within-Household Food Security Statuses Are Associated with Varied Maternal Mental Health Outcomes.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Food insecurity in Piura, Peru, in the context of post-earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Article
- Household food insecurity and early childhood development in Brazil: an analysis of children under 2 years of age.Public health nutrition · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the temporal directionality of the association between food insecurity and maternal depression.
designFood insecurity was measured at two time points using the eighteen-item USDA Food Security Scale. Maternal depression was measured at two time points using the fifteen-item Composite International Diagnostic Interview-Short Form. Two structural equation models were utilised to evaluate the impact of food insecurity on maternal depression (model 1) and the impact of maternal depression on food insecurity (model 2). Both models controlled for socio-demographic and parenting characteristics and child behaviour problems, along with prior measures of the dependent variable and concurrent measures of the independent variable.
settingFragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) study, twenty cities across the USA.
participants4897 mothers who participated in two waves of the FFCW study.
resultsOn average, 17 % (time 1) and 15 % (time 2) of mothers experienced food insecurity and 21 % (time 1) and 17 % (time 2) of mothers experienced depression over time. Maternal depression at time 1 was associated with 53 % increased odds (OR = 1·53; B = 0·43; P < 0·001) of food insecurity at time 2, controlling for time 1 food insecurity, concurrent depression and covariates. Food insecurity at time 1 was associated with 36 % increased odds (OR = 1·36; B = 0·31; P < 0·001) of maternal depression at time 2, controlling for time 1 depression, concurrent food insecurity and covariates.
conclusionsWe found a bidirectional relationship between food insecurity and maternal depression. A holistic approach that combines food assistance and mental health services may be an efficacious approach to reducing both depressive symptoms and food insecurity among low-income mothers.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.