Section 15.2.6

15.2.6 - Having Seniors or Children and Food Security

Associations Between the Presence of Senior Household Members, the Presence of Children, and Food Security. In order to further explore 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 age 18 and the presence of senior members age 65 or older. There are four panels in the table, with the top panel showing the tabulations for the entire A2H client data and then the subsequent three panels disaggregating the analysis by type of A2H program.

Table 15.2.6

HAVING SENIORS OR CHILDREN AND FOOD SECURITY
Households with Seniors and/or Children

	All Households	Households with Seniors and Children	Households with Seniors, no Children	Households with Children, no Seniors	Other One-Person Households	Other Two or More People Households
For All Three Programs
Food secure	29.4%	34.5%	47.8%	23.4%	24.4%	27.1%
Food insecure without hunger	33.9%	37.1%	33.8%	38.4%	28.0%	33.5%
Food insecure with hunger	36.7%	28.4%	18.4%	38.2%	47.6%	39.4%
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
SAMPLE SIZE (N) - ALL	32,170	884	5,691	11,694	9,665	4,236
For Pantry Programs
Food secure	28.6%	31.7%	46.9%	23.2%	19.9%	27.6%
Food insecure without hunger	35.0%	38.8%	34.4%	38.7%	28.6%	34.4%
Food insecure with hunger	36.4%	29.5%	18.7%	38.1%	51.5%	38.0%
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
SAMPLE SIZE (N) - PANTRIES	24,019	826	4,516	10,359	4,967	3,351
For Kitchen Programs
Food secure	31.3	85.1%	55.0%	23.6%	28.6%	22.8%
Food insecure without hunger	31.8	5.6%	27.7%	39.7%	30.1%	33.8%
Food insecure with hunger	36.9	9.3%	17.3%	36.7%	41.3%	43.4%
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
SAMPLE SIZE (N) - KITCHENS	5,307	52	1,026	755	2,729	745
For Shelter Programs
Food insecure without hunger	21.4%	*	36.2%	19.0%	21.9%	17.4%
Food insecure with hunger	42.2%	*	6.6%	47.5%	41.1%	51.9%
TOTAL	100%	*	100%	100%	100%	100%
SAMPLE SIZE (N) - SHELTERS	2,844	6	149	580	1,969	140

Notes
Item nonresponses to all variables involved were excluded in calculating percentages and sample sizes.

Statistically significant based on chi-square test (d.f. = 8) at the 1% level.

*Sample size too small for reliable estimates.

In general, households with elderly members are much less likely to experience food insecurity or hunger than are households with children. Also, for the overall sample, rates of hunger tend to be highest among single-person households with neither elderly nor child members. Specific findings include:

For the overall sample, 18.4% of households that include seniors but no children are estimated to be experiencing hunger, compared to 47.6% 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 51.5% and 41.3%, respectively.
For shelters, the highest rate, 47.5%, is for households with children but no seniors.