Good Friends and Good Neighbors: Social Capital and Food Insecurity in Families with Newborns

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between social capital and household food insecurity among US families with newborns. Study design: This cross-sectional analysis used enrollment data from 881 newborn-caregiver dyads at 6 geographically-diverse US academic sites enrolled in the Greenlight Plus Trial, a comparative effectiveness trial to prevent childhood obesity. Ordinal proportional-odds models were used to characterize the associations of 2 self-reported measures of social capital: (1) caregiver social support and (2) neighborhood social cohesion, with household food insecurity after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Among 881 newborn-caregiver dyads (49% Hispanic, 23% non-Hispanic White, 17% non-Hispanic Black; 49% with annual household income