Section 15.5.1

15.5.1 - Food Security Status and Household Tradeoffs

Household Trade-offs and Food Security. Facing direct trade-offs among necessities is a strong indicator of food insecurity (Table 15.5.1). As shown in Table 15.5.1, no matter what indicator of trade-offs is involved, households who are food insecure with hunger are much more likely to indicate that they face the trade-off than are the food secure households. Specific results include:

10.1% of the households categorized as food secure, 29.3% of the households categorized as food insecure without hunger, and 46.2% of the households categorized as food insecure with hunger had to choose between food and medical care during the past year.
16.1% of the households categorized as food secure, 44.2% of the households categorized as food insecure without hunger, and 64.4% of the households categorized as food insecure with hunger had to choose between food and utilities (or heating fuel) during the past year.
10.9% of the households categorized as food secure, 33.9% of the households categorized as food insecure without hunger, and 57.1% of the households categorized as food insecure with hunger had to choose between food and rent (or mortgage) during the past year.

Table 15.5.1

FOOD SECURITY STATUS AND HOUSEHOLD TRADE-OFFS

Food Security Status of Client Households
	All Client Households	Food Secure	Food Insecure Without Hunger	Food Insecure with Hunger
Choose between food and medical care
Yes	29.8%	10.1%	29.3%	46.2%
No	70.2%	89.9%	70.7%	53.8%
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%	100%
SAMPLE SIZE (N)	31,659	9,268	10,152	12,239
Choose between food and utilities or heating fuel
Yes	43.2%	16.1%	44.2%	64.4%
No	56.8%	83.9%	55.8%	35.6%
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%	100%
SAMPLE SIZE (N)	31,643	9,249	10,166	12,228
Choose between food and rent or mortgage
Yes	35.5%	10.9%	33.9%	57.1%
No	64.5%	89.1%	66.1%	42.9%
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%	100%
SAMPLE SIZE (N)	31,606	9,248	10,352	12,206

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

Statistically significant based on chi-square test (d.f. = 2) at the 1% level.