Table 1.
Distribution of sample characteristics, parental psychological factors and child sleep outcomes by food security status* in the sample of low-income Head Start children of pre-school age (n 362) and their caregivers from four rural counties in central Pennsylvania, USA, May 2017–May 2018
| n | Household | P value | Adult | P value | Child | P value | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food secure | Food insecure | Food secure | Food insecure | Food secure | Food insecure | |||||||||||
| %, mean or median | sd or IQR | %, mean or median | sd or IQR | %, mean or median | sd or IQR | %, mean or median | sd or IQR | %, mean or median | sd or IQR | %, mean or median | sd or IQR | |||||
| % | 362 | 62·7 | – | 37·3 | – | 68·2 | – | 31·8 | – | 82·3 | – | 17·7 | – | |||
| Child and parental characteristics | ||||||||||||||||
| Child age† (years) | 357 | 4·4 | 0·70 | 4·5 | 0·76 | 0·514 | 4·4 | 0·71 | 4·5 | 0·74 | 0·382 | 4·4 | 0·70 | 4·4 | 0·81 | 0·443 |
| Child sex‡ | 194 | 0·335 | 0·334 | 0·884 | ||||||||||||
| Male | 53·7 | – | 46·6 | – | 53·4 | – | 46·0 | – | 51·3 | – | 50·0 | – | ||||
| Female | 46·3 | – | 53·4 | – | 46·6 | – | 54·0 | – | 48·7 | – | 50·0 | – | ||||
| Parent age§ (years) | 350 | 32·3 | 9·81 | 31·7 | 8·38 | 0·867 | 32·2 | 9·68 | 31·8 | 8·45 | 0·787 | 31·9 | 9·60 | 32·6 | 7·78 | 0·122 |
| Highest parent education completed‡ | 358 | 0·385 | 0·171 | 0·412 | ||||||||||||
| <High school | 16·5 | – | 20·1 | – | 16·0 | – | 21·9 | – | 18·6 | – | 14·3 | – | ||||
| ≥High school | 83·5 | – | 79·9 | – | 84·0 | – | 78·1 | – | 81·4 | – | 85·7 | – | ||||
| Marital status‡ | 358 | 0·345 | 0·341 | 0·736 | ||||||||||||
| Single/divorced/separated/widowed | 37·5 | – | 42·5 | – | 37·7 | – | 43·0 | – | 39·0 | – | 41·3 | – | ||||
| Married or partnered | 62·5 | – | 57·5 | – | 62·3 | – | 57·0 | – | 61·0 | – | 58·7 | – | ||||
| Employment status‡ | 356 | 0·760 | 0·647 | 0·761 | ||||||||||||
| Unemployed | 52·5 | – | 54·1 | – | 52·3 | – | 54·9 | – | 52·7 | – | 54·8 | – | ||||
| Employed | 47·5 | – | 45·9 | – | 47·7 | – | 45·1 | – | 47·3 | – | 45·2 | – | ||||
| Household characteristics | ||||||||||||||||
| Number of children <18 years in household§ | 359 | 2·5 | 1·32 | 2·4 | 1·10 | 0·819 | 2·4 | 1·29 | 2·5 | 1·12 | 0·352 | 2·5 | 1·26 | 2·3 | 1·12 | 0·525 |
| Number of people (supported by income)§ | 333 | 4·1 | 1·80 | 3·9 | 1·54 | 0·405 | 4·1 | 1·74 | 4·0 | 1·62 | 0·928 | 4·1 | 1·73 | 3·8 | 1·58 | 0·289 |
| Annual household income‡ ($US) | 288 | 0·618 | 0·591 | 0·093 | ||||||||||||
| <20 000 | 46·1 | – | 49·1 | – | 46·1 | – | 49·5 | – | – | 45·0 | – | 58·0 | – | |||
| ≥20 000 | 53·9 | – | 50·9 | – | 53·9 | – | 50·5 | – | – | 55·0 | – | 42·0 | – | |||
| Participation in assistance programme in the past 12 months‡ | ||||||||||||||||
| SNAP/Food Stamps | 350 | 69·1 | – | 85·0 | – | 0·001 | 69·6 | – | 86·7 | – | 0·0005 | 73·6 | – | 82·3 | – | 0·153 |
| WIC | 345 | 73·1 | – | 62·7 | – | 0·045 | 71·1 | – | 65·1 | – | 0·262 | 69·6 | – | 67·8 | – | 0·787 |
| TANF | 306 | 8·2 | – | 10·8 | – | 0·447 | 8·1 | – | 11·6 | – | 0·323 | 7·9 | – | 15·1 | – | 0·099 |
| Any assistance programme | 355 | 90·1 | – | 92·5 | – | 0·446 | 89·7 | – | 93·8 | – | 0·205 | 90·1 | – | 95·2 | – | 0·206 |
| Region‡ | 362 | 0·684 | 0·924 | 0·750 | ||||||||||||
| Bradford-Tioga | 26·0 | – | 29·6 | – | 26·7 | – | 28·7 | – | 28·5 | – | 21·9 | – | ||||
| Blair | 34·8 | – | 29·6 | – | 34·0 | – | 30·4 | – | 32·2 | – | 35·9 | – | ||||
| Huntingdon | 21·6 | – | 24·4 | – | 22·3 | – | 23·5 | – | 22·5 | – | 23·4 | – | ||||
| Snyder-Union-Mifflin | 17·6 | – | 16·3 | – | 17·0 | – | 17·4 | – | 16·8 | – | 18·8 | – | ||||
| Household chaos§ (score) | 362 | 2·3 | 0·63 | 2·6 | 0·63 | <0·0001 | 2·3 | 0·64 | 2·6 | 0·61 | <0·0001 | 2·3 | 0·65 | 2·6 | 0·59 | 0·004 |
| Family functioning§ (score) | 360 | 3·6 | 0·39 | 3·4 | 0·49 | 0·003 | 3·6 | 0·41 | 3·4 | 0·47 | 0·002 | 3·6 | 0·42 | 3·4 | 0·49 | 0·014 |
| Parental psychological factors | ||||||||||||||||
| Perceived stress† (Z-score) | 361 | −0·2 | 0·91 | 0·4 | 1·01 | <0·0001 | −0·2 | 0·92 | 0·5 | 1·00 | <0·0001 | −0·1 | 0·95 | 0·5 | 1·07 | <0·0001 |
| Self-efficacy§ (Z-score) | 362 | 0·1 | 0·98 | −0·1 | 1·04 | 0·124 | 0·0 | 0·98 | −0·1 | 1·04 | 0·102 | 0·0 | 1·00 | −0·2 | 0·97 | 0·043 |
| Depressive symptomatology§ (Z-score) | 362 | −0·2 | 0·87 | 0·4 | 1·09 | <0·0001 | −0·2 | 0·86 | 0·5 | 1·10 | <0·0001 | −0·1 | 0·96 | 0·4 | 1·09 | 0·0002 |
| Child sleep outcomes | ||||||||||||||||
| Usual wake time‡ | 362 | 0·429 | 0·710 | 0·961 | ||||||||||||
| ≤07.00 hours | 49·8 | – | 45·2 | – | 48·6 | – | 47·0 | – | 48·3 | – | 46·9 | – | ||||
| 07.00–08.00 hours | 30·4 | – | 37·0 | – | 31·6 | – | 35·7 | – | 32·6 | – | 34·4 | – | ||||
| >08.00 hours | 19·8 | – | 17·8 | – | 19·8 | – | 17·4 | – | 19·1 | – | 18·8 | – | ||||
| Usual bedtime‡ | 361 | 0·180 | 0·196 | 0·672 | ||||||||||||
| ≤20.00 hours | 30·5 | – | 25·9 | – | 30·9 | – | 24·3 | – | 29·6 | – | 25·0 | – | ||||
| 20.00–21.00 hours | 52·2 | – | 48·9 | – | 51·2 | – | 50·4 | – | 50·8 | – | 51·6 | – | ||||
| >21.00 hours | 17·3 | – | 25·2 | – | 17·9 | – | 25·2 | – | 19·5 | – | 23·4 | – | ||||
| Sleep duration§ (h) | 361 | 10·7 | 0·95 | 10·8 | 0·94 | 0·860 | 10·8 | 0·94 | 10·7 | 0·96 | 0·945 | 10·8 | 0·95 | 10·7 | 0·93 | 0·564 |
| Bedtime routine frequency per week‡ | 362 | 0·086 | 0·133 | 0·092 | ||||||||||||
| <5 nights | 21·6 | – | 29·6 | – | 22·3 | – | 29·6 | – | 22·8 | – | 32·8 | – | ||||
| 5–7 nights | 78·4 | – | 70·4 | – | 77·7 | – | 70·4 | – | 77·2 | – | 67·2 | – | ||||
| Reported sleep quality‡ | 362 | 0·024 | 0·053 | 0·005 | ||||||||||||
| Very well | 48·5 | – | 36·3 | – | 47·4 | – | 36·5 | – | 47·3 | – | 28·1 | – | ||||
| Poor (very poorly–well) | 51·5 | – | 63·7 | – | 52·6 | – | 63·5 | – | 52·7 | – | 71·9 | – | ||||
IQR, interquartile range; SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; WIC, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Statistically significant P values are shown in bold.
Values presented are percentages, or as means and standard deviations, or as medians and interquartile ranges.
The t test was conducted to determine differences between normally distributed continuous variables and binary food security status.
The χ2 test was conducted to determine differences between categorical variables and binary food security status.
The Mann–Whitney U test was used to determine differences between non-normal continuous variables and binary food security status.