Sponsor
Portland State University. School of Social Work
First Advisor
Nancy Koroloff
Term of Graduation
Summer 2007
Date of Publication
8-3-2007
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Social Work and Social Research
Department
Social Work
Language
English
Subjects
Federal funds market (U.S.), Food, Households, Hunger
DOI
10.15760/etd.7988
Physical Description
1 online resource (2, vi, 113 pages)
Abstract
This dissertation describes the conceptual and empirical framework that guides the definition of food insecurity and hunger, the present status of federal programmatic responses, and the status of current research on the topic. It also examines relations between hunger and federal food assistance program participation. Logistic regression is utilized to build two predictor models. Model 1 predicts federal food assistance program participation from household structure, income, community characteristics, and demographics. Model 2 predicts food insecurity/hunger from household structure, income, community characteristics, demographics, and federal food assistance program participation. Results are based on 2004 Current Population Survey data from low income households. Model 1 performed better than a constant only model, and reliably distinguished between federal food assistance program participating and non-participating households. As a whole, Model 1 explained approximately 30 percent of the variance in program participation. Household size was the strongest predictor of federal food assistance program participation. Model 2 also performed better than a constant only model, and reliably distinguished between food secure and food insecure/hungry households. As a whole, Model 2 explained less than 10 percent of the variance in food insecurity. Household earnings were the strongest predictor of food insecurity. The odds of food insecurity for households that participated in federal food assistance programs were higher than for households that did not participate. Methodological, philosophical, and policy implications of these findings are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on the relevance of findings for the field of social work. Suggestions for future research are also provided.
Rights
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/38542
Recommended Citation
Sanders, Rebecca Elizabeth, "Food Security and Hunger among Low income US Households: Relations to Federal Food Assistance Program Participation" (2007). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 6128.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.7988
Comments
If you are the rightful copyright holder of this dissertation or thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to pdxscholar@pdx.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.