Table 1.
Descriptive statistics of sample characteristics, Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), 2008–2011
| Mean, sd or percentage | ||
|---|---|---|
| Variable | First sample | Second sample |
| Demographic characteristics | ||
| Age (years) | ||
| Mean | 42·2 | 42·2 |
| sd | 10·6 | 10·6 |
| Male (%) | 53·0 | 53·3 |
| Race (%) | ||
| Non-Hispanic White | 70·5 | 69·3 |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 11·1 | 11·5 |
| Hispanic | 12·4 | 13·2 |
| Others | 6·0 | 6·1 |
| Education (%) | ||
| High school or below | 26·2 | 27·4 |
| Some college | 37·2 | 36·0 |
| Bachelor or above | 36·6 | 36·6 |
| Married (%) | 56·0 | 54·6 |
| Citizens (%) | 93·2 | 93·0 |
| Household type (%) | ||
| Couple-headed | 64·8 | 67·8 |
| Male-headed | 6·1 | 6·9 |
| Female-headed | 29·1 | 29·3 |
| Household size | ||
| Mean | 2·7 | 2·8 |
| sd | 1·4 | 1·5 |
| Number of children | ||
| Mean | 0·9 | 1·0 |
| sd | 1·2 | 1·2 |
| Home owners (%) | 68·8 | 66·9 |
| Residence: metro (%) | 81·5 | 82·0 |
| Monthly income ($US) | ||
| Mean | 6586·6 | 6194·8 |
| sd | 5690·3 | 5493·4 |
| Income-to-needs ratio | ||
| Below 2 | 20·1 | 24·3 |
| 2 to 4 | 32·2 | 32·5 |
| Above 4 | 46·9 | 43·3 |
| Liquid assets* ($US) | ||
| Mean | 97 071·0 | 87 645·3 |
| sd | 657 734·2 | 686 148·4 |
| Assets-to-needs ratio: below 3 (%) | 45·2 | 44·9 |
| Recipient of SNAP† (%) | 7·3 | 5·8 |
| Access to social support† | ||
| Mean | 5·3 | 5·2 |
| sd | 2·5 | 2·4 |
| Outcome variable† | ||
| Food insecurity (%) | 9·7 | 9·7 |
| Independent variables‡ | ||
| Unemployed (%) | 17·8 | 11·1 |
| Episodes of unemployment | ||
| Mean | 0·3 | 0·1 |
| sd | 0·8 | 0·5 |
| Total duration of unemployment (weeks) | ||
| Mean | 4·0 | 1·5 |
| sd | 12·5 | 5·9 |
| Out of the labour force (%) | 12·0 | 7·2 |
| Sample size | 14 417 | 13 080 |
SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
If not mentioned otherwise, all variables were collected in Wave 1.
*
Variables were collected in Wave 4.
†
Variables were collected in Wave 6 for sample 1 and Wave 9 for sample 2.
‡
Variables were collected in Waves 1 to 6 for sample 1 and in Waves 6 to 9 for sample 2.