Does Food Insecurity in Early Life Make People More Depressed?—Evidence from CHARLS

Abstract

Based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data, this paper estimates the long-term association between food insecurity and later adult health and health behaviors with the Probit model. The results show that food insecurity in early life significantly increases adults’ depression likelihood (measured by the CES-D scale). The food insecurity experience is also negatively and significantly associated with individual self-rated health status, memory, sleep quality, and life satisfaction. The negative association between food insecurity and cognitive ability and sleep hours is larger for females.