Factors Contributing to Household Food Insecurity in a Rural Upstate New York County

In order to identify factors that contribute to household food insecurity in a rural county in upstate New York, we conducted two personal interviews with 193 women who were between the ages of 20 and 40 years, had less than 16 years of education, and had children living at home. Data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics, risk factors for food insecurity, food program participation, and the Radimer/Cornell hunger and food insecurity measures; in addition, each household’s food supplies were inventoried. Regression analyses and tree-based partitioning were used to identify the risk factors. The variables significantly (p < 0.05) contributing to food insecurity were being a single parent, lack of savings, larger household size, having unexpected expenses, adding $50 or more to food stamps to purchase sufficient food, and having low food expenditures. The variables contributing to low levels of household food supplies were low educational level, low food expenditures, not vegetable gardening, and not receiving free milk, eggs, and meat. Factors Contributing to Household Food Insecurity in a Rural Upstate New York County