Profiles of food security for US farmworker households and factors related to dynamic of change

E.H. Ip, S. Saldana, T.A. Arcury, J.G. Grzywacz, G. Trejo and S.A. Quandt

American Journal of Public Health, 2015, vol. 105, issue 10, e42-e47

Abstract: Objectives. We recruited 248 farmworker families with preschool-aged children in North Carolina and examined food security indicators over 24 months to identify food security patterns and examine the dynamic of change over time. Methods. Participants in the Niños Sanos study, conducted 2011 to 2014, completed quarterly food security assessments. Based on responses to items in the US Household Food Security Survey Module, we identified different states of food security by using hidden Markov model analysis, and examined factors associated with different states. We delineated factors associated with changes in state by using mixed-effect ordinal logistic regression. Results. About half of the households (51%) consistently stayed in the most food-secure state. The least food-secure state was transient, with only 29% probability of this state for 2 consecutive quarters. Seasonal (vs migrant) work status, having immigration documents (vs not documented), and season predicted higher levels of food security. Conclusions. Heterogeneity in food security among farmworker households calls for tailoring intervention strategies. The transiency and unpredictability of low food security suggest that access to safety-net programs could reduce low food security risk in this population.

Keywords: adolescent; adult; agricultural worker; catering service; female; Hispanic; human; middle aged; migration; probability; questionnaire; risk factor; United States, Adolescent; Adult; Farmers; Female; Food Supply; Hispanic Americans; Humans; Markov Chains; Middle Aged; North Carolina; Risk Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Transients and Migrants; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2015.302752_7

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302752

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