Social inequalities in household food availability and wellbeing among newcomer adolescents in Canada: A Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children 2017/2018 Study

Abstract Purpose:This study sought to assess how hunger and wellbeing differ among newcomer adolescents versus non-newcomer adolescents in Canada and the associations between these factors. Methods: This study represents results from a proportional sample of 21,750 adolescents in Canada recruited through the HBSC-Canada study 2017/2018 cycle. It used measures of migration status, the WHO-5 measure of wellbeing, hunger, and family support factors in regression models to estimate cross-sectional associations between migration status and hunger, and wellbeing while controlling for covariates and the nested nature of the data. Results: Approximately 32.1% of the sample were newcomers and newcomers were more likely to be hungry (20.4%) compared with non-newcomer adolescents (15.5%). The regression analyses confirmed this association and also showed that newcomer adolescents also reported lower wellbeing compared with non-newcomer adolescents. Further analyses showed that among hungry adolescents, non-newcomers reported lower wellbeing than newcomer adolescents in Canada. Conclusion: Although newcomer adolescents report overall lower wellbeing and more hunger with non-newcomers; when hungry, newcomers report higher wellbeing than their non-newcomer peers. This resilience to hunger may be explained by living in other adversity (i.e., more household deprivation, less family supports) which were living conditions found among newcomer adolescents in this study.