Características socioeconômicas dos pais e os níveis de insegurança alimentar dos filhos no Brasil

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the effect of parents’ socioeconomic characteristics on the levels of food (in)security of children aged between 1 and 19 years in Brazil, divided into four categories, according to the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale – BFIS: security, mild insecurity, moderate insecurity and severe insecurity. The analyzes were carried out using the ordered multinomial econometric model, using microdata from the Family Budget Survey (FBS) 2017-2018. The results indicate that increasing parental education, with a greater impact on maternal education, reduces the probability of food insecurity. The increase in income, despite having an influence in the same direction, does not have as relevant an impact as that provided by increases in education. Furthermore, it was also found that the variables with the greatest negative impact on food security are the number of children in the household and the fact that it is headed by a woman, highlighting one of the perverse consequences of gender disparity in the country.