Premium
Divorced women who are in informal unions are most vulnerable to food insecurity
Author(s) -
Dallmann Diana,
DALLMANN Marquis Grace S,
Colecraft Esi K,
Clark Shelley,
Aryeetey Richmond
Publication year - 2016
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.30.1_supplement.899.14
Subject(s) - rasch model , food insecurity , marital status , logit , pregnancy , demography , proxy (statistics) , logistic regression , medicine , food security , polytomous rasch model , latin americans , environmental health , psychology , geography , item response theory , clinical psychology , agriculture , economics , developmental psychology , psychometrics , political science , population , archaeology , sociology , computer science , biology , genetics , machine learning , econometrics , law
Divorced women in Africa experience economic disadvantages. This analysis uses baseline data from the Nutrition Links project to determine if marital experience of women is associated with food insecurity (FI). 1094 Households (HH) with an infant (< 12 months) were selected from 137 villages in the Upper Manya Krobo district in Ghana. FI was assessed using the Latin‐American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA). HH where caregivers were the mothers of the index child and where the ELCSA questionnaire was completed are included in this analysis (n=1065). Internal validity of ELCSA was confirmed using the Rasch model. The relative severity of the items was according to the theoretical framework underlying the ELCSA. Additionally, no substantial DIF CONTRASTS were found when comparing groups by primary education (DIF <0.52 logit), and all items had INFIT values within acceptable range (0.7 to 1.3 logit). Principal Components Analysis was performed with HH assets to create a score as a proxy of wealth. Women's age and age at first pregnancy were 27.1±0.2 and 19.2±0.1 years, respectively. FI affected 57% of HH (27% mild, 18% moderate, and 12% severe). FI was associated with HH wealth score, women's education level, and age at first pregnancy (p<0.05) but not with age. Sixty percent of women in severely food insecure HH had not finished primary school compared to 44% in food secure HH (p=0.01). Age at first pregnancy and wealth score decreased with severity of FI (p<0.01). Marital experience was also associated with FI. Women who were in an informal union (i.e.: cohabiting or in a union), either divorced or never married, had higher odds for being food insecure (OR: 1.68 and 2.27, respectively) compared to women who were in their first marriage (p<0.01). After adjusting for education level, age, age at first pregnancy, and wealth, only divorced women in informal unions still had higher odds for being food insecure when compared to those in their first marriage (OR: 1.59, p<0.05). These results are consistent with previous publications, implying that poorer never‐married and divorced women may enter into informal relationships out of economic necessity. They also suggest that much more attention must be placed in better understanding marital history of women and the social aspects that are linking these informal unions to FI. Considering that divorce is not uncommon, and that informal unions are increasing in Ghana, a large number of women and their children could be experiencing FI. Finally, this study highlights the importance of identifying divorced women, specially divorced women in new informal unions as a vulnerable population for interventions against FI.