Food Insecurity
Active Projects
The Power Packs Study
Funding:
William T. Grant Foundation, 2024-2026, $600,000
Russell Sage Foundation, 2021-2023, $165,000
Georgetown University Pilot Study Grant, 2019-2020, $20,000
In a pilot study, we gathered daily diaries of food insecurity, meal routines, and family functioning from participating parents over several months to assess the impact of a unique food assistance program (the Power Packs Project) in the short and long-term on parent and child mood, behavior, and sleep. We also explored the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on families’ food security and wellbeing, and are currently exploring the implications of COVID-19-related economic relief policies on families’ economic and psychological wellbeing.
In 2024, our team will begin a three-year field experiment to enhance program enrollment, participation, and retention in ways that can meaningfully improve student and family wellbeing. This study will use behavioral supports to both enhance families’ program engagement and evaluate the program’s effect on family food security, student academic and psychological outcomes and parent wellbeing.
Selected Publications
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Past Projects
Food insecurity, child development, and family functioning
Funding:
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Economic Research Service (ERS) Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) program
Food insecurity – or inadequate access to the quantity and quality of food needed to fuel development – impacts nearly 20% of young children in low-income households. In collaboration with Anna Markowitz – alumna of CDSP – Professor Johnson investigated how food insecurity at different developmental periods across early childhood impacts children’s kindergarten cognitive and social skills, and whether and to what extent a range of family wellbeing factors might explain the negative effect of food insecurity on child development.