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. 2021 Jul 16;21:1410. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11465-6

Table 1.

Sample Characteristics of Respondents by Food Security Status

Variable Food Insecure Food Secure p-value
Sociodemographic Characteristics
Married (%) 34 (13.5) 35 (18.4) 0.2
Black (%) 178 (70.6) 115 (60.5) 0.084
Female (%) 194 (77.0) 139 (73.2) 0.11
Education level of high school or less (%) 165 (65.5) 110 (57.9) 0.126
Employment (%) < 0.001
 A homemaker 8 (3.2) 1 (0.5)
 A student 2 (0.8) 2 (1.1)
 Employed for Wages 88 (34.9) 83 (43.7)
 Out of work for < 1 year 28 (11.1) 8 (4.2)
 Out of work for > 1 year 15 (6.0) 12 (6.3)
 Refused to work 0 (0.0) 3 (1.6)
 Retired 20 (7.9) 33 (17.4)
 Self-employed 10 (4.0) 8 (4.2)
 Unable to work 81 (32.1) 40 (21.1)
Number of people living in household (mean (SD)) 2.46 (1.51) 2.19 (1.30) 0.049
Experienced significant changes in life in past year (%) 113 (44.8) 56 (29.5) < 0.001
Receives SNAP benefits (%) 184 (73.0) 104 (54.7) < 0.001
Income < 0.001
 Less than $10,000 116 (46.0) 51 (26.8)
 $10,000–$20,000 82 (32.5) 54 (28.4)
 $20,001–$30,000 32 (12.7) 35 (18.4)
 Over $30,000 21 (8.3) 50 (26.3)
Health Information
 Have health insurance (%) 234 (92.9) 178 (93.7) 0.839
 Chronic disease (%) 138 (54.8) 86 (45.3) 0.06
Food Shopping and Dietary Behaviors
 Frequency of food shopping at primary store in days per month (mean (SD)) 4.85 (5.62) 3.82 (4.17) 0.034
 Shops with own car (%) 117 (46.4) 117 (61.6) 0.002
 2010 Healthy Eating Index score (mean (SD)) 48.73 (9.51) 51.98 (10.82) < 0.001
Beliefs about Food Shopping and Diet
 I have enough time to shop for fresh and healthy foods. (%) 0.056
  Strongly Agree 143 (56.7) 127 (66.8)
  Tend to Agree 81 (32.1) 54 (28.4)
  Tend to Disagree 19 (7.5) 6 (3.2)
  Strongly Disagree 9 (3.6) 3 (1.6)
 It is convenient for me to purchase fresh and healthy food. (%) < 0.001
  Strongly Agree 124 (49.2) 111 (58.4)
  Tend to Agree 76 (30.2) 65 (34.2)
  Tend to Disagree 33 (13.1) 13 (6.8)
  Strongly Disagree 19 (7.5) 1 (0.5)
 Eating a fresh and healthy diet is affordable (%) 0.001
  Strongly Agree 56 (22.2) 50 (26.3)
  Tend to Agree 86 (34.1) 82 (43.2)
  Tend to Disagree 67 (26.6) 48 (25.3)
  Strongly Disagree 110 (43.7) 58 (30.5)
 It is easy to eat a fresh and healthy diet (%) < 0.001
  Strongly Agree 68 (27.0) 75 (39.5)
  Tend to Agree 89 (35.3) 76 (40.0)
  Tend to Disagree 62 (24.6) 32 (16.8)
  Strongly Disagree 33 (13.1) 7 (3.7)

Notes: 1. Boldface p-values indicate statistical significance(p < 0.05)

2. Differences between continuous items were assessed using independent means t-tests and differences between categorical items were assessed using chi-square tests

3. Sample sizes for items differ due to missing data