Individual and Household Food Insecurity Reports by Adolescents and Parents Lack Agreement in Rural and Urban Mexican Settings

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the degree of agreement between adolescents’ reported individual food insecurity (FI) with their parents reported household FI. Methods This is a cross-sectional study with 118 adolescents (15.76 ± 1.65 y) and their parents who were recruited from a rural area in Oaxaca (n = 60) and an urban area in Queretaro (n = 58), Mexico. Household FI was assessed in parents using the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA), whereas individual adolescents’ FI was assessed with a scale specific for children/adolescents. Cohen's Kappa estimates were calculated to measure agreement between parents’ and adolescents’ FI, and using Landis and Koch criteria for interpretation. Results Household FI reported by the parents was 47.5% (34.7% mild and 17.8% moderate + severe), compared to 83.1% (43.3% mild and 39.9% moderate + severe) among adolescents. In both Querétaro and Oaxaca, reported individual FI on the adolescents (75.9% and 90%, respectively) was higher than parents’ reported household FI (37.9% and 67%, respectively). Overall, the Kappa score showed a lack of agreement between the reported parents’ household FI and the adolescents’ individual FI (mild FI, κ = 0.04; moderate FI, κ = 0.02; severe FI κ = 0.16; p > 0.05). Similarly, a lack of agreement between the reported FI of the parents and the reported FI of the adolescents was found separately in Queretaro (mild FI, κ = 0.001; moderate FI, κ = .06; p > 0.05) and Oaxaca (mild FI κ = 0.10; moderate FI κ = −0.06; severe FI κ = 0.10; p > 0.05). Conclusions The findings of the present study suggest that the experience of FI in adolescents lacks agreement with the household experience, even when assessed in different contexts (rural/urban), and that adolescents FI experiences might be higher than their parents’. Funding Sources No funding sources.