Table 4.

Pearson correlation coefficients for the association of household characteristics, anthropometric measurements of the mother and child, and infant feeding indicators with food insecurity scores as measured by the Arabic version of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale in the study population (n 150) from the rural area of the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, September 2011–March 2012

Characteristic	Correlation coefficient
Education level of mother	−0·473**
Education level of father	−0·218*
Total number of household appliances†	−0·478**
Monthly income of family (LL)‡	−0·453**
Total number of individuals in household	0·232**
Total number of children in household	0·308**
Crowding index§	0·298**
Number of cars in household	−0·386**
WAZ||	−0·249**
LAZ||	−0·303**
WLZ||	−0·124
DDS¶	−0·224*
MFS††	−0·247**
BMI of mother (kg/m2)	0·172*

*P < 0·05, **P < 0·01.

†Total number of appliances is the sum of each affirmative response received for each item owned; items included refrigerator, stove, washing machine, microwave, air conditioner, DVD player and computer.

‡LL = Lebanese Lira (currency of Lebanon) whereby 1500 LL ≈ US$ 1.

§Crowding index was defined as the average number of people per room, excluding the kitchen and bathroom.

||Nutritional assessments: WAZ, weight-for-age Z-score; LAZ, length-for-age Z-score; WLZ, weight-for-length Z-score.

¶Dietary diversity: DDS, Dietary Diversity Score.

††Meal frequency: MFS, Meal Frequency Score.