School absenteeism is linked to household food insecurity in school catchment areas in Southern Nevada

OBJECTIVES: Food security and school attendance are both important for health, well-being and academic performance of children and adolescents. However, their intersection remains underexamined, especially in the USA. The current study considered the association between elementary school-level absenteeism and household food insecurity. DESIGN: The current study linked school-level absenteeism and household food insecurity rates using geographic information system mapping and applied the tobit regression model to examine their association. SETTING: The Clark County, Nevada, public school district – the fifth largest in the USA and in a state with disproportionate food insecurity and chronic school absenteeism rates. PARTICIPANTS: Data consisted of school-level absenteeism rates from 185 elementary schools and census tract-level household food insecurity rates. RESULTS: Average daily attendance rates were lower for schools with catchment areas that had higher average household food insecurity (FI), decreasing by −0·0232 % per 1 % increase in FI rate (P-value = 0·022). They were also significantly associated with most absenteeism risk factors. Average daily attendance rate was negatively associated with Free and Reduced Lunch eligibility percentage (−0·010 per 1 % increase in FI, P-value < 0·001) and Individualized Education Program participation percentage (−0·039 % per 1 % increase in FI, P-value = 0·033), but positively associated with parent–teacher conference participation rate (0·006 % per 1 % increase in FI, P-value = 0·025) and white student percentage (0·011 % per 1 % increase in FI, P-value = 0·022). CONCLUSIONS: The current study suggests a link between household food insecurity and elementary school-level absenteeism. Understanding this link is important for policy and practice because schools are frequent settings for food insecurity mitigation interventions.