Associations Among the Presence of Senior Household Members, the Presence of Children and Food Security (15.2.6)
To explore further the relationship between household composition and food security, Table 15.2.6 breaks down household composition in terms of both the presence of children younger than 18 and the presence of seniors age 65 or older. There are four panels in the table, the top panel showing the tabulations for the entire A2H client data and the subsequent three disaggregating the analysis by type of A2H program.
Table 15.2.6
HAVING SENIORS OR CHILDREN AND FOOD SECURITY
|
All Households |
Households with Seniors |
Households with Children, No Seniors |
One-Person Households with Neither Children nor Seniors |
Households with Two or More People but with Neither Children nor Seniors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
For All Three Programs |
|||||
Food secure |
29.7% |
48.0% |
26.2% |
23.2% |
24.7% |
Food insecure without hunger |
36.9% |
35.8% |
41.5% |
32.5% |
38.2% |
Food insecure with hunger |
33.4% |
16.2% |
32.4% |
44.2% |
37.1% |
TOTAL |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
SAMPLE SIZE (N) – ALL |
52,041 |
11,536 |
15,987 |
16,598 |
7,920 |
For Pantry Programs |
|||||
Food secure |
29.6% |
46.7% |
24.8% |
23.4% |
23.1% |
Food insecure without hunger |
39.2% |
36.9% |
42.1% |
35.9% |
40.5% |
Food insecure with hunger |
31.2% |
16.4% |
33.1% |
40.7% |
36.4% |
TOTAL |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
SAMPLE SIZE (N) – PANTRIES |
36,109 |
9,136 |
13,517 |
7,521 |
5,935 |
For Kitchen Programs |
|||||
Food secure |
30.6% |
53.5% |
33.2% |
23.8% |
32.1% |
Food insecure without hunger |
29.9% |
31.0% |
37.5% |
28.0% |
28.8% |
Food insecure with hunger |
39.5% |
15.4% |
29.3% |
48.2% |
39.1% |
TOTAL |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
SAMPLE SIZE (N) – KITCHENS |
10,297 |
1,966 |
1,262 |
5,527 |
1,542 |
For Shelter Programs |
|||||
Food secure |
25.0% |
63.2% |
40.9% |
22.9% |
20.3% |
Food insecure without hunger |
29.9% |
17.4% |
27.4% |
30.5% |
28.9% |
Food insecure with hunger |
45.1% |
19.4% |
31.7% |
46.6% |
50.7% |
TOTAL |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
SAMPLE SIZE (N) – SHELTERS |
4,001 |
68 |
663 |
3,076 |
194 |
Notes:
In calculating percentages and sample sizes, we excluded item nonresponses to all variables involved.
Statistically significant based on chi-square test (d.f. = 8) at the 1% level.
In general, households with elderly members are much less likely than households with children to experience food insecurity or hunger. Also, for the overall sample, rates of hunger tend to be highest among single-person households with neither elderly nor child members. Among shelter clients, however, households with two or more people but without elderly members or children are most likely to experience hunger. Specific findings include:
- For the overall sample, 32.4% of households that include children but no seniors are estimated to be experiencing hunger, compared with 44.2% of single-person households with neither children nor seniors.
- For pantry and kitchen programs, the highest rates of hunger are for one-person households with neither children nor elderly members; these rates are 40.7% and 48.2%, respectively.
- For shelters, the highest rate, 50.7%, is for two-person households with
neither seniors nor children.