1. Introduction
Poverty in Canadian families has grown to unacceptable levels since parliamentarians resolved to eliminate child poverty in 1989. Child poverty affected 21.2% of Canadian children in 1996, an increase from a rate of approximately 19.0% reported in 1994 (Canadian Council on Social Development, 1999). The Canadian Council on Social Development reported that in 1996, 61% of children living with lone female parents, and 52% of all aboriginal children, lived in poverty (CCSD, 1999). Social assistance or welfare benefits have been reduced in many jurisdictions, thereby, deepening poverty for many dependent families (National Council on Welfare, 1997).
Food insecurity, whose extreme expression is hunger, is one possible outcome of the deprivation experienced by families with children who live in severe poverty. Chronically compromised dietary consumption is a well-described outcome of inadequate dietary intake of food insecure individuals (Tarasuk and Beaton, 1999b; Cristofar and Basiotis, 1992). American studies have documented fatigue, irritability, dizziness, frequent headaches, frequent colds and infections, and difficulty concentrating, among children reported to be hungry (Food Research and Action Center, 1995). There remains, however, a limited understanding of the psychological, social, and political implications of coping strategies employed by those living in conditions of food insecurity. The overall health implications of food insecurity are unclear, and the effect of food insecurity on children in particular, has not been well-documented. The relative contribution of long-term food insecurity to health inequities (Evans, Barer and Marmor, 1994) among the poor has not been determined.
The Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) sponsored study, A Glimpse of Child Hunger in Canada revealed that in 1994, 1.2% of National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth (NLSCY) families (conservatively 57,000 children) reported hunger among their children, and that the data were sufficiently robust to "predict" which families were most likely to report hunger, either frequently or occasionally (McIntyre, Connor and Warren, 1998). The study also identified predictors of food bank use compared with other coping strategies for emergency food provision. The findings revealed an annual household income deficit of $4800 between families reporting frequent versus occasional hunger.
The Food Security Supplement appended to the 1998 National Population Health Survey (Applied Research Branch, 1997) has yet to be released to the public. Food security questions have been included on the ongoing evaluation of Canada's Prenatal Nutrition Program. Today, however, the limited questions on the National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth remain the only national data on the prevalence of hunger among children in Canada. The longitudinal nature of the NLSCY provides an opportunity to explore the consequences of reported hunger in childhood over both short- and long-term periods. It also permits an evaluation of critical periods in a child's development for such outcomes.
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