IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v171y2016icp9-17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Food insecurity and maternal mental health in León, Nicaragua: Potential limitations on the moderating role of social support

Author

Listed:
  • Piperata, Barbara A.
  • Schmeer, Kammi K.
  • Rodrigues, Andres Herrera
  • Salazar Torres, Virgilio Mariano

Abstract

Poor mental health among those living in poverty is a serious global public health concern. Food insecurity (FI) is recognized as an important, yet critically understudied social determinant of mental health. The relationship between FI and mothers' mental health in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) is especially important to understand considering the high rates of poverty and associated FI in these settings. For these mothers, social support may serve as a buffer in ameliorating the impact of FI on mental distress. However, data required to understand these relationships in LMIC remain sparse. To address this gap we used quantitative and qualitative data and convergence parallel analysis to assess: the association between FI and maternal mental distress; and, whether three forms of social support - mother's general social network support and family support (spouse/partner living in the home, parents/in-laws living in the home) - moderated the association. A survey that included data on FI (ELCSA) and mental distress (SRQ-20) was administered to a population-based sample of mothers in León, Nicaragua (n = 434) in 2012. The survey was complemented by data from 6 focus groups. Regression models identified a strong positive relationship between household-level FI and maternal distress. Evidence of social support moderation was mixed: while maternal social network and spousal/partner support did not moderate this relationship, parental support did. Our ethnographic data revealed three themes that help explain these findings: FI is embarrassing/shameful, close family is the most appropriate source of social support and, fear of gossip and ridicule limit the buffering capacity of the social support network. Our findings contribute to a growing literature demonstrating that FI is an important social determinant of maternal mental distress in LMIC; and that some forms of social support may reduce (but not eliminate) the impact of FI on mental distress.

Suggested Citation

  • Piperata, Barbara A. & Schmeer, Kammi K. & Rodrigues, Andres Herrera & Salazar Torres, Virgilio Mariano, 2016. "Food insecurity and maternal mental health in León, Nicaragua: Potential limitations on the moderating role of social support," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 9-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:171:y:2016:i:c:p:9-17
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.10.029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616305974
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.10.029?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maes, Kenneth C. & Hadley, Craig & Tesfaye, Fikru & Shifferaw, Selamawit, 2010. "Food insecurity and mental health: Surprising trends among community health volunteers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the 2008 food crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(9), pages 1450-1457, May.
    2. Eric Brunner, 2007. "Biology and Health Inequality," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(11), pages 1-4, October.
    3. Maurice Mutisya & Moses W. Ngware & Caroline W. Kabiru & Ngianga-bakwin Kandala, 2016. "The effect of education on household food security in two informal urban settlements in Kenya: a longitudinal analysis," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(4), pages 743-756, August.
    4. Cole, Steven M. & Tembo, Gelson, 2011. "The effect of food insecurity on mental health: Panel evidence from rural Zambia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(7), pages 1071-1079.
    5. Ellsberg, Mary & Peña, Rodolfo & Herrera, Andrés & Liljestrand, Jerker & Winkvist, Anna, 2000. "Candies in hell: women's experiences of violence in Nicaragua," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(11), pages 1595-1610, December.
    6. Tampubolon, Gindo & Hanandita, Wulung, 2014. "Poverty and mental health in Indonesia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 20-27.
    7. Tsai, Alexander C. & Tomlinson, Mark & Comulada, W. Scott & Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane, 2016. "Food insufficiency, depression, and the modifying role of social support: Evidence from a population-based, prospective cohort of pregnant women in peri-urban South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 69-77.
    8. Tsai, Alexander C. & Bangsberg, David R. & Frongillo, Edward A. & Hunt, Peter W. & Muzoora, Conrad & Martin, Jeffrey N. & Weiser, Sheri D., 2012. "Food insecurity, depression and the modifying role of social support among people living with HIV/AIDS in rural Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(12), pages 2012-2019.
    9. Pelto, Gretel H., 1987. "Cultural issues in maternal and child health and nutrition," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 553-559, January.
    10. Hanandita, Wulung & Tampubolon, Gindo, 2014. "Does poverty reduce mental health? An instrumental variable analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 59-67.
    11. Miller, Kenneth E. & Rasmussen, Andrew, 2010. "War exposure, daily stressors, and mental health in conflict and post-conflict settings: Bridging the divide between trauma-focused and psychosocial frameworks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 7-16, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pellowski, Jennifer A. & Barnett, Whitney & Kuo, Caroline C. & Koen, Nastassja & Zar, Heather J. & Stein, Dan J., 2017. "Investigating tangible and mental resources as predictors of perceived household food insecurity during pregnancy among women in a South African birth cohort study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 76-84.
    2. Mushavi, Rumbidzai C. & Burns, Bridget F.O. & Kakuhikire, Bernard & Owembabazi, Moran & Vořechovská, Dagmar & McDonough, Amy Q. & Cooper-Vince, Christine E. & Baguma, Charles & Rasmussen, Justin D. & , 2020. "“When you have no water, it means you have no peace”: A mixed-methods, whole-population study of water insecurity and depression in rural Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    3. Thalia M. Sparling & Megan Deeney & Bryan Cheng & Xuerui Han & Chiara Lier & Zhuozhi Lin & Claudia Offner & Marianne V. Santoso & Erin Pfeiffer & Jillian A. Emerson & Florence Mariamu Amadi & Khadija , 2022. "Systematic evidence and gap map of research linking food security and nutrition to mental health," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. DeLorme, Autumn L. & Gavenus, Erika R. & Salmen, Charles R. & Benard, Gor Ouma & Mattah, Brian & Bukusi, Elizabeth & Fiorella, Kathryn J., 2018. "Nourishing networks: A social-ecological analysis of a network intervention for improving household nutrition in Western Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 95-103.
    5. Ashley Hagaman & John A Gallis & Sonia Bhalotra & Victoria Baranov & Elizabeth L Turner & Siham Sikander & Joanna Maselko, 2019. "Psychosocial determinants of sustained maternal functional impairment: Longitudinal findings from a pregnancy-birth cohort study in rural Pakistan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-13, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tsai, Alexander C. & Tomlinson, Mark & Comulada, W. Scott & Rotheram-Borus, Mary Jane, 2016. "Food insufficiency, depression, and the modifying role of social support: Evidence from a population-based, prospective cohort of pregnant women in peri-urban South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 69-77.
    2. Trudell, John Paul & Burnet, Maddison L. & Ziegler, Bianca R. & Luginaah, Isaac, 2021. "The impact of food insecurity on mental health in Africa: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    3. Hjelm, Lisa & Handa, Sudhanshu & de Hoop, Jacobus & Palermo, Tia, 2017. "Poverty and perceived stress: Evidence from two unconditional cash transfer programs in Zambia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 110-117.
    4. Boateng, Godfred O. & Workman, Cassandra L. & Miller, Joshua D. & Onono, Maricianah & Neilands, Torsten B. & Young, Sera L., 2022. "The syndemic effects of food insecurity, water insecurity, and HIV on depressive symptomatology among Kenyan women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    5. Mushavi, Rumbidzai C. & Burns, Bridget F.O. & Kakuhikire, Bernard & Owembabazi, Moran & Vořechovská, Dagmar & McDonough, Amy Q. & Cooper-Vince, Christine E. & Baguma, Charles & Rasmussen, Justin D. & , 2020. "“When you have no water, it means you have no peace”: A mixed-methods, whole-population study of water insecurity and depression in rural Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    6. Mulusew G Jebena & David Lindstrom & Tefera Belachew & Craig Hadley & Carl Lachat & Roos Verstraeten & Nathalie De Cock & Patrick Kolsteren, 2016. "Food Insecurity and Common Mental Disorders among Ethiopian Youth: Structural Equation Modeling," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-20, November.
    7. Nicolas Barrantes & Jhonatan Clausen, 2022. "Does Multidimensional Poverty Affect Depression? Evidence from Peru," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 22(2), pages 107-129, April.
    8. Chang, Qingsong & Peng, Chenhong & Guo, Yingqi & Cai, Ziyi & Yip, Paul S.F., 2020. "Mechanisms connecting objective and subjective poverty to mental health: Serial mediation roles of negative life events and social support," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    9. Cole, Steven M. & Tembo, Gelson, 2011. "The effect of food insecurity on mental health: Panel evidence from rural Zambia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(7), pages 1071-1079.
    10. Piperata, Barbara A. & Schmeer, Kammi K. & Hadley, Craig & Ritchie-Ewing, Genevieve, 2013. "Dietary inequalities of mother–child pairs in the rural Amazon: Evidence of maternal-child buffering?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 183-191.
    11. Keetie Roelen & Emily Taylor, 2020. "Assessing mental health in a context of extreme poverty: Validation of the rosenberg self-esteem scale in rural Haiti," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(12), pages 1-14, December.
    12. Tsai, Alexander C. & Bangsberg, David R. & Frongillo, Edward A. & Hunt, Peter W. & Muzoora, Conrad & Martin, Jeffrey N. & Weiser, Sheri D., 2012. "Food insecurity, depression and the modifying role of social support among people living with HIV/AIDS in rural Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(12), pages 2012-2019.
    13. Paul B. Stretesky & Margaret Anne Defeyter & Michael A. Long & Liesel A. Ritchie & Duane A. Gill, 2020. "Holiday Hunger and Parental Stress: Evidence from North East England," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, May.
    14. Thirlway, Frances & Nyamurungi, Kellen Namusisi & Matovu, Joseph K.B. & Miti, Andrew Kibuuka & Mdege, Noreen Dadirai, 2021. "Tobacco use and cessation in the context of ART adherence: Insights from a qualitative study in HIV clinics in Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    15. Weaver, Lesley Jo & Owens, Caroline & Tessema, Fasil & Kebede, Ayantu & Hadley, Craig, 2021. "Unpacking the “black box” of global food insecurity and mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    16. Hackman, Joseph & Maupin, Jonathan & Brewis, Alexandra A., 2016. "Weight-related stigma is a significant psychosocial stressor in developing countries: Evidence from Guatemala," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 55-60.
    17. Seguin, Maureen & Lewis, Ruth & Amirejibi, Tinatin & Razmadze, Mariam & Makhashvili, Nino & Roberts, Bayard, 2016. "Our flesh is here but our soul stayed there: A qualitative study on resource loss due to war and displacement among internally-displaced women in the Republic of Georgia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 239-247.
    18. Hinton, Devon E. & Nickerson, Angela & Bryant, Richard A., 2011. "Worry, worry attacks, and PTSD among Cambodian refugees: A path analysis investigation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(11), pages 1817-1825, June.
    19. Maren Radeny & Elizaphan J. O. Rao & Maurice Juma Ogada & John W. Recha & Dawit Solomon, 2022. "Impacts of climate-smart crop varieties and livestock breeds on the food security of smallholder farmers in Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(6), pages 1511-1535, December.
    20. Pradeep Kumar Panda, 2006. "Rights-based Strategies in the Prevention of Domestic Violence," Working Papers id:748, eSocialSciences.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:171:y:2016:i:c:p:9-17. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.