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Household food insecurity is associated with food intake, and household income among Hispanics in Hartford, CT
Author(s) -
Hong MinJi,
PérezEscamilla Rafael,
SeguraPérez Sofia,
Peng YuKuei
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.a1008
Subject(s) - food insecurity , environmental health , poverty , food security , medicine , household income , cronbach's alpha , supplemental nutrition assistance program , demography , gerontology , geography , agriculture , economics , archaeology , clinical psychology , sociology , economic growth , psychometrics
The goal of this study was to examine the association between food insecurity and dietary intake of low‐income Hispanic families in Hartford, CT. Food insecurity was measured using the 15‐item USDA Food Insecurity Module and dietary intake was assessed with short food group frequency questionnaire. The majority of Hispanics in this sample were Puerto Rican (73.9%) and Mexican (11.4%). The mean age of the participants’ was 32.6 ± 10.18y and all the participants had at least one child under 18y (n=211). More than half of the respondents were receiving food assistance programs such as, WIC (50.7%), school breakfast/lunch program (71.1%), and food stamps (58.8%). Although education level was not significantly associated with food insecurity level, employment status was associated with food insecurity (p<0.029). Among unemployed participants, 78.7% of households were food insecure. Food insecurity level was associated with the probability of daily intake of fruits (p<0.011), meats/fish (p<0.045), and dairy product (p<0.027) and monthly income strata (p<0.031). None of the households earning over 2000$/month were moderately or severely food insecure. Cronbach's α was 0.93 and the scale item response curves were parallel across the income level. These findings indicate that the extent of household food insecurity is associated with poverty and dietary intake among Hispanics. Funded by the Latino Health Disparities EXPORT Center.