Food Insecurity and Educational Expectation among Chinese Rural School Children: A Serial Multiple Mediation Model

The present study aims to explore the associations between food insecurity and educational expectation, as well as the mediating role of the serial mediators of self-efficacy and depression on the focal association, among school children in rural China. This study conducted a cross-sectional survey on 3,787 students (Grade 5 to Grade 9, mean age = 13.38 years). They responded to questions on demographics, educational expectation, The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), and The Birleson Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS). Serial-multiple mediation modeling was used to test the mediating roles of self-efficacy and depression. It is found that higher food insecurity was associated with lower educational expectation (p < 0.001). The serial mediators of self-efficacy and depression were found partially mediating the association between food insecurity and educational expectation (p < 0.001). Moreover, the mediating effect of self-efficacy and depression, respectively, was observed to be stronger than the serial-multiple mediation effect of the two. The study enhances the understanding of how food insecurity relates with educational expectation among children with limited resources in developing countries. The findings as with the severity of childhood food insecurity in rural China as well as its association with the consequences on children’s educational expectation provide empirical support for contentions that food insecurity should be considered in designing and implementing school-based intervention programs for children in disadvantaged households or communities. Moreover, related children services could weaken the negative influences of food insecurity on educational expectation by introducing interventions on childhood self-efficacy and depression.