Hungry Kids Prone to Suicide, Flunking

by Susan S. Lang

"The level of food deprivation in this wealthy nation puts millions of children at risk for multiple developmental problems," says Katherine Alaimo, a community health scholar at the University of Michigan. Alaimo and Cornell researchers looked at how hunger is linked to depression, suicide, and development of adolescents and school-age children.

Researchers found that young people, ages 15 to 16, in homes where there is not always enough to eat, are five times more likely to attempt suicide. They also are four times more likely to suffer from chronic, low-grade depression and are almost twice as likely to have been suspended from school, as well as having more problems getting along with their peers.

Young people, ages 6 to 11, who live in food in families without enough food are twice as likely to have seen a psychologist, more likely to have repeated a grade, and more likely to have significantly lower math scores.

One in five American children live in poverty, the highest level of childhood poverty among developed nations, and that almost 4 million children live in homes where at times, due to lack of economic resources, there is not enough food. Previous studies had shown that depression is a common result of insufficient food, particularly among people who are on near-starvation diets. In the Cornell study, 60 percent of the adolescents who lived in homes with inadequate food intake had at least one suicidal symptom (thoughts of death or suicide or desire to die) and almost 20 percent attempted suicide.

"Food is fundamental and food insufficiency, like other material deprivations such as homelessness, is stressful for both parents and children and can cause depression, anxiety and other emotional problems," says Alaimo.