The psychological toll of food insecurity

We investigate the relationship between food insecurity and psychological distress among a sample of poor households in Lebanon. We first document large unconditional differences in various measures of psychological distress based on whether a respondent lives in a household experiencing acute food...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of economic behavior & organization Vol. 204; pp. 618 - 630
Main Authors Alloush, Mo, Bloem, Jeffrey R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 01.12.2022
Subjects
Depression
Food Insecurity
Food Vouchers
Lebanon
Mental Health
Poverty
Psychological Well-being
Stress
Lebanon
O12
Food Vouchers
Poverty
Food Insecurity
Depression
Q18
Mental Health
Psychological Well-being
I15
D91
Stress
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:We investigate the relationship between food insecurity and psychological distress among a sample of poor households in Lebanon. We first document large unconditional differences in various measures of psychological distress based on whether a respondent lives in a household experiencing acute food insecurity. Next we show that these differences persist even when accounting for heterogeneity by interview timing, geography, and other characteristics. Considering results across a variety of regression specifications, we find that experiencing acute food insecurity increases scores on a psychological distress index by at least 0.16 standard deviations. These results carry implications for the literature on the mental health consequences of food insecurity and poverty alleviation policy.
ISSN:0167-2681
1879-1751
DOI:10.1016/j.jebo.2022.10.021