Food-insecure teens who don’t get enough to eat sometimes resort to extreme measures to cope with hunger—from saving school lunches for the weekend or going hungry so younger siblings can eat to stealing or trading sex for money to buy food. The most risky behaviors are by no means typical of all teens, even in the most distressed communities, but they illustrate the lengths to which some of the most desperate and food-insecure teens are willing to go to survive.
An estimated 6.8 million people ages 10 to 17 are food insecure, meaning they don’t have reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food. Another 2.9 million are very food insecure, and roughly 4 million live in marginally food secure households, where the threat of running out of food is real.
Food insecurity takes a tremendous toll on teenagers. Poor nutrition—and the stress of hunger and poverty—can jeopardize their physical and mental health and development and their academic success. But despite the gravity and prevalence of teen food insecurity, we know very little about how these young people experience and cope with hunger.
In this report, we present findings from a small, exploratory study on how food insecurity affects teens (ages 13 to 18) and threatens their well-being. Across 20 focus groups in 10 diverse communities, we heard similar themes:
Teen food insecurity is widespread.
Teens fear stigma around hunger and actively hide it.When faced with acute food insecurity, teens in all but two of the communities said that youth engage in criminal behavior.
To read additional themes and access the Urban Institute Report, please click here.
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