Local - Level Predictors of Household Food Insecurity

Food security—the assured access of all people to enough food for a healthy and active life—is the focus of considerable policy and research attention. This paper examines the relationship between both household and contextual characteristics and food security among households with elementary school children in Wisconsin, using new data from a self-administered survey sent home to parents. We find that food insecurity is linked to an array of household characteristics that are consistent with findings from existing research, thus providing external validation of the self-administered measure. We also find that a broad array of local attributes, related to housing costs, transportation, retail food outlets, and strength of the local labor market, have significant and in some cases large impacts on food security. Overall, results lend strong support to the view that food insecurity results from a complex interplay among personal resources, public resources, and the economic and social contexts in which a household resides. Local-Level Predictors of Household Food Insecurity