scholarly journals Association of WIC Participation and Growth and Developmental Outcomes in High-Risk Infants

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-61
Author(s):  
Ashwini Lakshmanan ◽  
Ashley Y. Song ◽  
Nicole Flores-Fenlon ◽  
Urvashi Parti ◽  
Douglas L. Vanderbilt ◽  
...  

The objective of this study was to describe the association of enrollment in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and infant growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes. Z scores and Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development–Third Edition (Bayley-III) and Vineland Adaptive/Behavior Scale–II (VABS-II) scores represented primary outcomes. We conducted bivariate analyses and linear regression. Children who were enrolled in WIC or WIC/SNAP had weight z scores U (95% confidence interval [CI]) that were 1.32 (0.42-2.21) or 1.19 (0.16-2.23) units higher. Enrollment in WIC or WIC/SNAP was associated with a higher score (95% CI) of 11.7 U (1.2-22.2 U) or 11.5 (0.1-22.9) for Bayley-III cognitive score and 10.1 U (1.9-19.1 U) or 10.3 (0.9-19.7) for the VABS-II composite score. These findings support increased advocacy for participation in WIC or WIC/SNAP for families with high-risk infants.

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dena R. Herman

AbstractThe Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are critical programs in the U.S. because they form the basis of the nation’s nutrition and hunger safety net. SNAP has large effect nationwide offering nutrition assistance to 1 in 7 low-income Americans, while WIC serves more than half of all infants in the U.S. and a quarter of all children ages 1-5 years. Despite the reach of these programs, there is still room for improvement, especially when it comes to increasing access to healthy food items and improving eating habits. The objective of this paper is to make recommendations for how WIC and SNAP can work better together to continue to incentivize purchases and support low-income population’s knowledge and access to healthier food choices, particularly those foods that have traditionally been most expensive – fruits and vegetables.


Author(s):  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Yanghao Wang ◽  
Steven T. Yen

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is designed to improve household diet and food security—a pressing problem confronting low-income families in the United States. Previous studies on the issue often ignored the methodological issue of endogenous program participation. We revisit this important issue by estimating a simultaneous equation system with ordinal household food insecurity. Data are drawn from the 2009–2011 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS), restricted to SNAP-eligible households with children. Our results add to the stocks of empirical findings that SNAP participation ameliorates food insecurity among adults only, but increases the probabilities of low and very low food security among children. These contradictory results indicate that our selection approach with a single cross section is only partially successful, and that additional efforts are needed in further analyses of this complicated issue, perhaps with longitudinal data. Socio-demographic variables are found to affect food-secure households and food-insecure households differently, but affect SNAP nonparticipants and participants in the same direction. The state policy tools, such as broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) and simplified reporting, can encourage SNAP participation and thus ameliorate food insecurity. Our findings can inform policy deliberations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 488-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darcy A. Freedman ◽  
Eunlye Lee ◽  
Punam Ohri-Vachaspati ◽  
Erika Trapl ◽  
Elaine Borawski ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Marianne Bitler ◽  
Lisa A. Gennetian ◽  
Christina Gibson-Davis ◽  
Marcos A. Rangel

Hispanic families have historically used means-tested assistance less than high-poverty peers, and one explanation for this may be that anti-immigrant politics and policies are a barrier to program participation. We document the participation of Hispanic children in three antipoverty programs by age and parental citizenship and the correlation of participation with state immigrant-based restrictions. Hispanic citizen children with citizen parents participate in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid more than Hispanic citizen children with noncitizen parents. Foreign-born Hispanic mothers use Medicaid less than their socioeconomic status would suggest. However, little evidence exists that child participation in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) varies by mother’s nativity: foreign-born mothers of Hispanic infants participate in WIC at higher rates than U.S.-born Hispanic mothers. State policies that restrict immigrant program use correlate to lower SNAP and Medicaid uptake among citizen children of foreign-born Hispanic mothers. WIC participation may be greater because it is delivered through nonprofit clinics, and WIC eligibility for immigrants is largely unrestricted.


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