Table 2.
Prevalence of food insecurity in the past year and food insufficiency in the past month by sociodemographic characteristics of emerging adult respondents to the C-EAT (COVID-19 Eating and Activity over Time) survey in spring 2020*
| Characteristics | Sample, n | Past year food insecurity† (%) | P-value | Past month food insufficiency‡ (%) | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 218 | 28·4 | 12·0 | ||
| Sex | 0·34 | 0·21 | |||
| Female | 153 | 30·7 | 14·5 | ||
| Male | 62 | 24·2 | 6·4 | ||
| Different identity | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Ethnicity/race§ | 0·60 | 0·73 | |||
| White | 79 | 22·8 | 11·7 | ||
| Hispanic or Latino | 42 | 17·1 | 7·3 | ||
| Asian American | 42 | 18·8 | 11·9 | ||
| Black or African American | 31 | 32·3 | 16·9 | ||
| Mixed or other | 23 | 39·1 | 18·2 | ||
| Parent socio-economic status | < 0·001 | 0·006 | |||
| Low | 66 | 34·8 | 15·4 | ||
| Low-middle to middle | 75 | 41·3 | 18·9 | ||
| Upper-middle to high | 77 | 10·4 | 2·7 | ||
| Employment status | 0·04 | 0·21 | |||
| Working full time | 97 | 19·6 | 8·3 | ||
| Working part time | 30 | 33·3 | 13·8 | ||
| Temporarily laid off or unemployed | 59 | 40·7 | 19·3 | ||
| At-home caregiver/not working for pay | 26 | 26·9 | 7·7 | ||
| Public assistance | < 0·001 | 0·11 | |||
| No | 169 | 21·9 | 10·2 | ||
| Yes | 49 | 51·0 | 18·7 | ||
| Living with a child(ren) of your own | 0·005 | 0·02 | |||
| No | 177 | 24·3 | 9·8 | ||
| Yes | 41 | 46·3 | 22·5 | ||
| Access to a car or other personal vehicle | 0·02 | ||||
| No | 36 | 44·4 | 20·6 | 0·11 | |
| Yes | 182 | 25·3 | 10·6 |
C-EAT study participants were originally recruited in Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota public schools in 2009–2010 and 87 % of the sample were living in Minnesota at the time of the spring 2020 survey.
Food insecurity status was based on responses to the short form of the US Household Food Security Survey Module. Scores of 2+ affirmative responses determined experiencing food insecurity at one or more times in the past year.
Participants were asked ‘In the past month, did you ever eat less than you felt you should because there wasn’t enough money for food?’ and ‘In the past month, were you ever hungry but didn’t eat because there was not enough money for food?’. Food insufficiency in the past month was determined by reporting yes to both questions.
Structurally racialised categories labelled by ethnicity/race.