Table 1.
Participant characteristics in Study 1, conducted May-July 2020, and Study 2, conducted May 2020.
| Characteristic |
Study 1 (n = 2,219) |
Study 2 (n = 810) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | |
| Participant | ||||
| Experienced pandemic food insecurity | 697 | 32% | 283 | 35% |
| Mean age (SD) | 34.8 | (7.6) | 41.9 | (14.6) |
| Gender identity | ||||
| Man | 768 | 35% | 365 | 45% |
| Woman | 1,402 | 65% | 430 | 53% |
| Neither or prefer to self-describe | 1 | 0% | 13 | 2% |
| Hispanic or Latino/a | 735 | 33% | 81 | 10% |
| Race | ||||
| White | 1,571 | 71% | 620 | 77% |
| Black or African American | 472 | 21% | 97 | 12% |
| Other or multiracial | 176 | 8% | 93 | 11% |
| Education | ||||
| Less than a 4-year college degree | 743 | 34% | 509 | 63% |
| 4-year college degree or more | 1,428 | 66% | 301 | 37% |
| Loss of employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic | 1,150 | 53% | 486 | 60% |
| Financial struggle due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| Not at all | 570 | 26% | 143 | 18% |
| Very little | 518 | 24% | 173 | 21% |
| Somewhat | 579 | 27% | 238 | 29% |
| Quite a bit | 305 | 14% | 136 | 17% |
| A great deal | 197 | 9% | 118 | 15% |
| Obtained food from the charitable food system in past 2 months | ||||
| Never | 1,384 | 64% | 441 | 54% |
| Once | 165 | 8% | 76 | 9% |
| 2–4 times | 340 | 16% | 171 | 21% |
| 5–9 times | 209 | 10% | 80 | 10% |
| 10 or more times | 79 | 4% | 42 | 5% |
| Government benefit receipt in the last 2 months | ||||
| Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) | 426 | 19% | 236 | 29% |
| Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) | 281 | 13% | 84 | 10% |
| Unemployment | 293 | 13% | 120 | 15% |
| COVID payment/stimulus | 465 | 21% | 200 | 25% |
| Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) | 51 | 2% | 10 | 1% |
| Other | 24 | 1% | 35 | 4% |
| None of the above | 1,131 | 51% | 319 | 39% |
| Household | ||||
| Household income ≤ 150% of U.S. Federal Poverty Level | 480 | 22% | 236 | 29% |
| Household income, annual | ||||
| $0-$49,999 | 713 | 33% | 395 | 49% |
| $50,000+ | 1,450 | 67% | 415 | 51% |
| At least one child in household | 2,167 | 100% | 417 | 51% |
| Census region of household | ||||
| Northeast | – | – | 180 | 23% |
| Midwest | – | – | 134 | 17% |
| South | – | – | 322 | 41% |
| West | – | – | 155 | 20% |
Note. SD, standard deviation. Missing demographic data ranged from 0.00% to 2.52%. -- Not assessed. Loss of employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic was defined as reporting “Been scheduled to work fewer hours”, “Taken unpaid time off”, “Had your wages or salary reduced”, “Been furloughed”, or “Been laid off” because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Experiencing pandemic food insecurity was defined as answering “Sometimes”, “Often”, or “All the time” to each of the three pandemic food insecurity questions. We examined the proportion of households with household income ≤ 150% of the U.S. Federal Poverty Level (FPL) because this cutoff is similar to cutoffs for eligibility to participate in many assistance programs (e.g., the federal cutoff for SNAP is 130% FPL1 the federal cutoff for WIC is 185% FPL2). Participants in Study 1 did not report their state of residence.
1 SNAP - Fiscal Year 2021 Cost of Living Adjustments (Policy Memo No. FNS-GD-2020-0133), 2020. USDA-FNS.
2 WIC 2021–2022 Income Eligibility Guidelines (Policy Memo No. FNS-GD-2021-0025), 2021. USDA-FNS.