• Anna E Austin, Meghan Shanahan, Madeline Frank, ReyesH Luz McNaughtonHLMDepartment of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA; Injury Prevention Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA., Alice Ammerman, and Nicole A Short.
• Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA; Injury Prevention Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA; Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. Electronic address: anna.austin@unc.edu.
• Prev Med. 2023 Oct 1; 175: 107725107725.

IntroductionFood insecurity is associated with an increased likelihood of interpersonal violence. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest program addressing food insecurity in the U.S. States can eliminate the asset test and/or increase the income limit for SNAP eligibility, expanding the number of households receiving assistance. We examined the association of state elimination of the asset test and increases in the income limit with rates of interpersonal violence, including intimate partner violence (IPV), other relationship violence (violence by a parent, friend, etc.), and stranger violence.MethodsWe used data from the SNAP Policy Database and state-level estimates of rates of interpersonal violence per 1000 population ages ≥12 years from the 2012-2014 to 2016-2018 National Crime Victimization Survey.ResultsStates that adopted both SNAP eligibility policies (eliminated the asset test and increased the income limit) had a lower rate of IPV (β = -0.4, 95% CI -0.9, 0.0) and other relationship violence (β = -2.4, 95% CI -3.8, -1.1) compared to states that did not adopt either policy. The rate of stranger violence (β = -0.5, 95% CI -2.3, 1.4) did not differ for states that adopted both policies compared to states that did not adopt either policy. Rates of IPV (β = -0.4, 95% CI -0.9, 0.2), other relationship violence (β = -1.2, 95% CI -3.2, 0.7), and stranger violence (β = -0.2, 95% CI -2.0, 1.6) did not differ for states that eliminated the asset test only compared to states that did not adopt either policy.ConclusionExpanding SNAP eligibility may help prevent interpersonal violence at the population-level.Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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