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Home / American Journal of Health Behavior, Volume 43, Number 1

Open Access Grit is Associated with Food Security among US Parents and Adolescents

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Objectives: We investigated whether the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) predicted odds of food insecurity (FI) among adults and their children. Methods: A cross-sectional panel of parent-child dyads completed an online questionnaire. Eligible dyads included parents with household income below the 2015 median ($52,250 USD/year) and their self-selected household child between the ages of 13 to 17 years. An online questionnaire assessed: (1) FI using the 18-item Household Food Security Survey Module and the Food Security Survey Module for Youth; (2) perseverance and determination using the validated 8-item Grit-S; and (3) sociodemographic FI predictors. Logit regression models estimated the relationship between odds of FI and predictors among parents and children, separately. Results: Among 252 parents, 61.1% reported household FI. Parents' Grit-S score (N = 179) was associated with a significantly lower odds of household FI (OR= 0.4; 95%CI= 0.2, 0.8; p < .01) while adjusting for established predictors. Mean (±SD) Grit-S was 3.1 (±0.7). Children's Grit-S score (N = 178) was associated with a significantly lower odds of child FI (OR= 0.6; 95%CI= 0.4, 0.9; p < .05) while adjusting for established predictors. Conclusions: Perseverance and determination, also known as "grit," may be one further explanation for why some poor households are food secure.

Keywords: FOOD; FOOD SECURITY; GRIT; HUNGER; PERSEVERANCE

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Graduate Research Assistant, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Urbana, IL 2: Assistant Research Specialist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY 3: Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Urbana, IL 4: Associate Professor, Purdue University, Department of Nutrition Science, West Lafayette, IN 5: Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Urbana, IL 6: Professor and Department Head, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Urbana, IL;, Email: [email protected]

Publication date: 01 January 2019

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  • The American Journal of Health Behavior seeks to improve the quality of life through multidisciplinary health efforts in fostering a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of both individuals and social systems as they relate to health behaviors.

    The Journal aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of personal attributes, personality characteristics, behavior patterns, social structure, and processes on health maintenance, health restoration, and health improvement; to disseminate knowledge of holistic, multidisciplinary approaches to designing and implementing effective health programs; and to showcase health behavior analysis skills that have been proven to affect health improvement and recovery.

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