Table 2.

Food insecurity among Mississippi adults by sociodemographic and health characteristics, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2015.

Characteristic	Food Insecurity		p-Value b
	% a (n = 1659)	95% CI
Overall	42.9	40.7–45.0
Age group (years)
18–24	50.7	45.3–56.1	<0.0001
25–44	48.8	44.4–53.2
45–64	41.5	38.2–44.9
≥65	26.8	23.9–29.7
Race
Black	53.7	50.0–57.3	<0.0001
White	36.4	33.8–39.0
Sex
Male	38.9	35.5–42.3	0.0011
Female	46.2	43.5–48.9
Education level
<High school graduate	57.8	52.2–63.4	<0.0001
High school or equivalent graduate	47.7	43.8–51.5
>High school graduate	35.6	32.8–38.3
Employment status
Employed	38.1	35.1–41.2	<0.0001
Unemployed	54.9	48.4–61.4
Student	49.7	34.8–64.6
Retired	25.3	22.0–28.6
Marital Status
Married	35.2	32.4–37.9	<0.0001
Widowed	34.7	29.9–39.6
Divorced/separated	57.7	52.9–62.6
Never married	52.2	46.6–57.8
Annual household income ($)
<20,000	67.6	63.6–71.6	<0.0001
20,000–34,999	49.5	45.0–54.1
35,000–49,999	43.6	37.2–50.0
≥50,000	18.9	15.7–22.1
Don’t know/Refused	37.6	31.6–43.6
Body Mass Index (BMI)
<25.0	36.5	32.2–40.8	<0.0001
25.0–<30.0	40.1	36.5–43.7
≥30	49.5	45.9–53.1
Smoking status
Current	61.1	56.5–65.8	<0.0001
Former	34.4	30.2–38.5
Never	39.0	36.2–41.9
Diabetes
Yes	46.4	41.7–51.0	0.1122
No	42.2	39.8–44.5
High blood pressure
Yes	45.8	42.8–48.7	0.0163
No	40.5	37.5–43.6
High Cholesterol
Yes	40.6	37.4–43.8	0.5749
No	39.4	36.3–42.4
Health insurance
Yes	38.6	36.4–40.9	<0.0001
No	65.0	59.3–70.8

CI, confidence interval; ^a Weighted percent; ^b Determined by X² test.