Long-term food stamp program participation is positively related to simultaneous overweight in young daughters and obesity in mothers

Previous research using longitudinal data has found a positive and significant relationship between Food Stamp Program (FSP) participation and overweight in young girls and obesity in low-income women. This paper examined whether these relationships occurred simultaneously for members of the same family using longitudinal data on young (aged 4.5-11.5 y) girls and their mothers from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. The results of ordinary least squares models that included detailed measures of individual, family, and environment characteristics and daughter or mother fixed effects indicated that all of the positive association between long-term FSP participation and overweight in daughters was accounted for by the association between long-term FSP participation and simultaneous overweight in daughters and obesity in mothers. Similarly, all of the positive association between long-term FSP participation and obesity in mothers was accounted for by the association between long-term FSP participation and simultaneous obesity in mothers and overweight in at least 1 young daughter. These results suggest that the relationship between long-term FSP participation and weight is a family phenomenon.