This paper offers the first empirical evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on dietary diversity among children and adolescents in urban and rural families by using panel data collected in 2019(before COVID-19)and 2020(d...This paper offers the first empirical evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on dietary diversity among children and adolescents in urban and rural families by using panel data collected in 2019(before COVID-19)and 2020(during COVID-19)in northern China.Our study uses panel data from 2,201 primary school students and 1,341 junior high-school students to apply the difference in differences(DID)method to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on dietary diversity among students in urban and rural families.We found that the dietary diversity score(DDS)of rural students decreased by 0.295 points(p<0.01)compared with that of urban students during COVID-19.Specifically,COVID-19 significantly reduced the frequency of rural students'consumption of vegetables by 1.8 percent,protein-rich foods such as soybean products and nuts by 6.0 percent,meats by 4.0 percent,aquatic products by 6.7 percent,and eggs by 5.3 percent,compared with urban students.Further,COVID-19 had a significant negative effect on the dietary diversity of students from low-and middle-income groups,with the DDS of the low-income group decreasing by 0.31 points(p<0.01)and that of the middle-income group by 0.12 points(p<0.1).展开更多
文摘This paper offers the first empirical evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on dietary diversity among children and adolescents in urban and rural families by using panel data collected in 2019(before COVID-19)and 2020(during COVID-19)in northern China.Our study uses panel data from 2,201 primary school students and 1,341 junior high-school students to apply the difference in differences(DID)method to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on dietary diversity among students in urban and rural families.We found that the dietary diversity score(DDS)of rural students decreased by 0.295 points(p<0.01)compared with that of urban students during COVID-19.Specifically,COVID-19 significantly reduced the frequency of rural students'consumption of vegetables by 1.8 percent,protein-rich foods such as soybean products and nuts by 6.0 percent,meats by 4.0 percent,aquatic products by 6.7 percent,and eggs by 5.3 percent,compared with urban students.Further,COVID-19 had a significant negative effect on the dietary diversity of students from low-and middle-income groups,with the DDS of the low-income group decreasing by 0.31 points(p<0.01)and that of the middle-income group by 0.12 points(p<0.1).
