Socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors associated with food expense insufficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan

Ryoko Katagiri, Takahiro Tabuchi and Kota Katanoda

PLOS ONE, 2022, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: Objective: To examine the status of food expense insufficiency in Japan during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors associated with food expense insufficiency. Design: Food expense insufficiency before and after the pandemic was assessed. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for the association between food expense insufficiency and socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors. Setting: A large-scale, cross-sectional online questionnaire survey. Participants: From August to September 2020, 25,482 participants aged 15–79 years completed the questionnaire (JACSIS 2020 study; Group 1). In October 2020, 917 single parents were surveyed for oversampling purposes. There were 179 single parents in Group 1 and a total of 1096 single parents in Group 2. Results: Group 1 and Group 2 had 747 (2.9%) and 55 (5.0%) participants, respectively, who experienced food expense insufficiency for the first time after April 2020. Young age, part-time employment, being a single parent (in Group 1), and the number of people in the household (five or more in Group 1 and child/children alone in Group 2) were significantly associated with food expense insufficiency. As being a single parent was significantly associated with food expense insufficiency in Group 1 (AOR [95% CI] = 7.23 [5.40–9.68]), we further examined it in Group 2. Single parents who exhibited multiple factors (young age, part-time employment, living only with child/children) were likely to experience food expense insufficiency (15.3–15.8%). Conclusions: Triggered by the pandemic, a small percentage of individuals experienced food expense insufficiency. We identified that factors such as young age, part-time employment, and being a single parent were significantly associated with food expense insufficiency, and discovered that a multiplicity of these factors further increased the risk. Our findings suggest an urgent need to support individuals with a potentially high risk of food expense insufficiency.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0279266

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279266

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