Patterns of participation in summer programming among United States’ elementary children from low-income urban households: Results from the project SWEAT study

Food insecurity increases among marginalized children during the summer when school is out of session. Summer programming that offers access to healthy meals and snacks may reduce the risk. There is a national call in the US for more research to assure equitable access to summer programming. The objective of this prospective observational study was to characterize patterns of participation in summer programming among elementary children from low-income urban neighborhoods of metropolitan[Blinded]. Summer programming was broadly defined (e.g., church, school, recreation center, community center). Caregivers(n = 100) received weekly text messages via TextIt during the summer (Jun-Aug 2017). They were asked: “How many days this week did [ChildName] attend a summer program? Please respond with a number from 0 to 5, where 0 – no days, 2 – 2 days, etc.” Weekly counts were summed. Stepwise logistic and linear regression models were conducted to examine differences in patterns of attendance according to key sociodemographic characteristics. Mean age was 7.03 ± 0.23. 52 % identified as female, 70 % were low-income, and 80.0 % identified as Black. 51 % attended summer programming at least once; 49 % never attended. Those who attended at least once vs. not at all were more likely to be male(p < 0.01); 62.75 % males vs. 37.25 % females attended summer programming at least once, whereas 67.35 % females compared to 32.65 % males never attended. Overall mean attendance was 10.40 ± 1.43 days(out of 50). Mean + SE attendance was lower for females (7.52 + 1.76) vs. males (13.52 + 2.21)(p < 0.05), and non-Black (4.30 + 1.97) vs. Black (11.93 + 1.67)(p = 0.01) children. Future research is needed to understand barriers to participation in summer programming.