The association between hunger-coping economic tradeoffs and food insecurity among female recipients of charitable food assistance.

Autor: Hernandez DC; University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Cizik School of Nursing, USA. Electronic address: Daphne.hernandez@uth.tmc.edu., Kim BR; University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Cizik School of Nursing, USA., Brooks FP; Georgia State University, School of Social Work at The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, USA., Gundersen C; Baylor University, Department of Economics, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Appetite [Appetite] 2025 Jan 01; Vol. 204, pp. 107733. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Oct 24.
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107733
Abstrakt: Food insecurity is an indicator of well-being in the United States. A high proportion of recipients of charitable food assistance (CFA) are women and are often in charge of specific household managerial responsibilities (e.g., childcare, transportation). Consequently, they frequently face choices between paying for food and paying for other basic need(s). This study aims to examine which hunger-coping economic tradeoffs place females with at least one dependent child in the house and females without a dependent child in the house at risk for experiencing food insecurity. Data was collected at 10 Houston-area and 10-Atlanta-area food pantries in 2022 (N = 883). Using USDA cutoff criteria, households were considered food insecure based on ≥3 affirmative responses to the 18-item Food Security Scale Module. Hunger-coping economic tradeoff experiences were based on affirmative responses to whether anyone in the household ever had to choose between food and six basic needs (i.e. childcare, medicine/medical care, utilities, rent/mortgage, transportation, education). Covariate-adjusted logistic regression models were conducted to understand the relationship between six hunger-coping economic tradeoffs and food insecurity for the entire analytic sample and stratified by whether the female participant had a child in house. Standard errors in all regression models were corrected to account for multiple observations within a pantry. Adults, on average, were 55 years old (58% food insecure; 47% Hispanic; 42% black). Four hunger-coping economic tradeoffs were related to experiencing food insecurity. Economic tradeoffs between food and a) medicine/medical care and b) transportation elevated the likelihood of food insecurity, regardless of child status. Tradeoffs between food and childcare increased the risk for experiencing food insecurity among females with a dependent child. Deciding to pay between food and utilities was related to food insecurity experiences among females without a dependent child. Increases in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and eligibility along with programs to enhance resources related to medical care, transportation, childcare and utilities could help reduce food insecurity, especially among CFA recipients.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: