Patterns Of Food Security And Dietary Intake During The First Half Of The Child Tax Credit Expansion: Study examines patterns of food security and dietary intake during the first half of the Child Tax Credit Expansion
Open accessAbstract
Temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) during the COVID-19 pandemic provided additional monthly income for US families, with no restrictions on use, from July through December 2021. This study examined food security and children's dietary intake after three months of expanded CTC payments. Parents completed online surveys before and after three months of CTC payments. Among parents participating in the expansion, food and beverage purchases were the most common use of expanded CTC funds (45.9 percent), particularly in households with very low food security (63.0 percent). From before to midway through the CTC expansion, very low food security decreased from 12.7 percent to 5.6 percent, and simultaneously, food security increased from 57.4 percent to 66.4 percent. The CTC expansion was also associated with decreases in children's consumption of added sugar, sugar-sweetened beverages, and sweetened fruit beverages. No changes were observed in children's intake of other dietary components. Our findings suggest that the expanded CTC payments may have helped lessen food insecurity and supported reductions in children's intake of added sugar in participating households.
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The 2021 reform of the Child Tax Credit in the United States was associated with reductions in food hardship among families with children of similar magnitudes to those predicted by the results of this study.
“the 2021 reform of the Child Tax Credit in the United States, which has since expired, was associated with reductions in food hardship among families with children of similar magnitudes to those predicted by the results of this study.”
From Food Insecurity and Social Policy: A Comparative Analysis of Welfare State Regimes in 19 Countries (2024) · cites this paper as [69]
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- Authors
- Adams, E., Brickhouse, T., Dugger, R., & Bean, M.
- Affiliations
- University of South Carolina (US)
- Virginia Commonwealth University (US)
- Venue
- Health Affairs
- Publisher
- Health Affairs Publishing, LLC
- Published
- 2022-05-01
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 680-688
- ISSN
- 0278-2715 (ISSN-L)
- 1544-5208
- PMC
- PMC9614666
- OpenAlex
- W4225263832
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 3
- FWCI
- 8.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Health Affairs (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR002649)
- National Cancer Institute (T32CA093423)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- food security, children's food consumption, added sugar consumption, sugar-sweetened beverages, household food purchasing, COVID-19 pandemic, low-income households, additional income
- MeSH terms
- Sugars, Food Security, COVID-19, Child, Eating, Humans, Pandemics
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