RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOD INSECURITY AND DEPRESSION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ MOTHERS

The study aims to find the relationship between household food insecurity and depression among mothers of ele-mentary school students in Bandar-E-Anzali; North of Iran. In this cross-sectional analysis, there have been randomly recruited 400 mothers with mean ± SD age of 37.28±5.68 years by random selection of female students from 12 public elementary schools. The subjects answered questions from socioeconomic factors, Family Food Security (USDA), and Beck Depression questionnaires. The data have been analyzed by means of Chi Square and multiple logistic regres-sion analysis methods. According to the results, 33% of mothers were vulnerable to depression, and 18.5 % had dif-ferent levels of depression (12.8% moderate depression, 5.2% severe depression, and 0.5% higher severe depression). Furthermore, 51% were in food insecurity condition (26% food insecurity without hunger, 16.5% food insecurity with moderate hunger, and 8.5% food insecurity with severe hunger). There was a significant relationship between food insecurity and depression (p<0.0001), and 29.4% of mothers with food security had depression as compared to 7.1 % mothers who were depressed but had no manifestations of food insecurity. The highest rate of depression was in single mothers who had food insecurity, and the highest rate of food insecurity was observed in the families who did not reside in their own houses, unemployed mothers or fathers, with no University education. Logistic regression model including confounders, demonstrated that no house ownership (p=0.01), having a sick member at home (p=0.02), and being a single mother (p=0.03) were the most significant factors on mothers' depression. Therefore, food insecurity can cause depression.