Table 1.
Demographic characteristics for a sample of survey respondents in Massachusetts to the Census Household Pulse Survey, March 2020-March 2021 (n = 57678)1.
|
Food Security2 (n = 39134) n (%) |
Marginal Food Security2 (n = 12620) n (%) |
Low Food Security2 (n = 2086) n (%) |
Very Low Food Security2 (n = 467) n (%) |
Total1 (n = 54307) n (%) |
p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age Category3 | <0.0001 | |||||
| 18–29 | 2868 (7.3) | 1099 (8.7) | 241 (11.6) | 54 (11.6) | 4262 (7.8) | |
| 30–39 | 6887 (17.6) | 2409 (19.1) | 456 (21.9) | 109 (23.3) | 9861 (18.2) | |
| 40–49 | 7034 (18.0) | 2466 (19.5) | 503 (24.1) | 117 (25.0) | 10,120 (18.6) | |
| 50–59 | 7672 (19.6) | 2619 (20.8) | 461 (22.1) | 105 (22.5) | 10,857 (20.0) | |
| 60–69 | 8148 (20.8) | 2499 (19.8) | 330 (15.8) | 59 (12.6) | 11,036 (20.3) | |
| 70+ | 6525 (16.7) | 1528 (12.1) | 95 (4.6) | 23 (4.9) | 8171 (15.1) | |
| Sex | <0.0001 | |||||
| Male | 16,340 (41.8) | 4650 (36.9) | 760 (36.4) | 168 (36.0) | 21,918 (40.4) | |
| Female | 22,794 (58.3) | 7970 (63.2) | 1326 (63.6) | 299 (64.0) | 32,389 (59.6) | |
| Ethnicity4 | <0.0001 | |||||
| Non-Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin | 37,073 (94.7) | 11,342 (89.9) | 1630 (78.1) | 351 (75.2) | 50,396 (92.8) | |
| Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin | 2061 (5.3) | 1278 (10.1) | 456 (21.9) | 116 (24.8) | 3911 (7.2) | |
| Race4 | ||||||
| White | 34,745 (88.8) | 10,391 (82.3) | 1432 (68.7) | 338 (72.4) | 46,906 (86.4) | <0.0001 |
| Black | 1371 (3.5) | 889 (7.0) | 328 (15.7) | 50 (10.7) | 2638 (4.9) | |
| Asian | 2079 (5.3) | 747 (6.0) | 91 (4.4) | 16 (3.4) | 2933 (5.4) | |
| Multiracial | 939 (2.4) | 593 (4.7) | 235 (11.3) | 63 (13.5) | 1830 (3.3) | |
| Education | <0.0001 | |||||
| Less than high school | 97 (0.3) | 97 (0.8) | 53 (2.5) | 24 (5.1) | 271 (0.5) | |
| Some high school | 277 (0.7) | 198 (1.6) | 103 (4.9) | 18 (3.9) | 596 (1.1) | |
| High school graduate or equivalent | 2670 (6.8) | 1472 (11.7) | 445 (21.3) | 110 (23.6) | 4697 (8.7) | |
| Some college | 4739 (12.1) | 2630 (20.8) | 586 (28.1) | 131 (28.1) | 8086 (14.9) | |
| Associate’s degree | 2636 (6.7) | 1310 (10.4) | 293 (14.1) | 58 (12.4) | 4297 (7.9) | |
| Bachelor’s degree | 12,921 (33.0) | 3646 (28.9) | 406 (19.5) | 77 (16.5) | 17,050 (31.4) | |
| Graduate degree | 15,794 (40.4) | 3267 (25.9) | 200 (9.6) | 49 (10.5) | 19,310 (35.6) | |
| Marital Status | <0.0001 | |||||
| Married | 24,106 (61.6) | 6428 (50.9) | 667 (32.0) | 107 (22.9) | 31,308 (57.7) | |
| Widowed | 1724 (4.4) | 598 (4.7) | 85 (4.1) | 27 (5.8) | 2434 (4.5) | |
| Divorced | 4422 (11.3) | 2043 (16.2) | 453 (21.7) | 96 (20.6) | 7014 (12.9) | |
| Separated | 498 (1.3) | 332 (2.6) | 118 (5.7) | 35 (7.5) | 983 (1.8) | |
| Never married | 8214 (21.0) | 3137 (24.9) | 752 (36.1) | 200 (42.8) | 12,303 (22.7) | |
| Unknown5 | 170 (0.43) | 82 (0.65) | 11 (0.53) | 2 (0.43) | 265 (0.5) | |
| Household Size | <0.0001 | |||||
| 1 person | 6321 (16.2) | 2179 (17.3) | 381 (18.3) | 112 (24.0) | 8993 (16.6) | |
| 2 people | 15,180 (38.9) | 4113 (32.6) | 552 (26.5) | 92 (19.7) | 19,937 (36.7) | |
| 3 people | 6809 (17.4) | 2450 (19.4) | 421 (20.2) | 91 (19.5) | 9771 (18.0) | |
| 4 people | 6926 (17.7) | 2192 (17.4) | 341 (16.4) | 75 (16.1) | 9534 (17.6) | |
| 5 people | 2669 (6.8) | 1055 (8.4) | 202 (9.7) | 46 (9.9) | 3972 (7.3) | |
| 6 + people | 1229 (3.1) | 631 (5.0) | 189 (9.1) | 51 (10.9) | 2100 (3.9) | |
| Number of Children in Household | <0.0001 | |||||
| 0 | 26,761 (68.4) | 8061 (63.9) | 1132 (54.3) | 255 (54.6) | 36,209 (66.7) | |
| 1 | 5462 (14.0) | 2078 (16.5) | 434 (20.8) | 88 (18.8) | 8062 (14.8) | |
| 2 | 5166 (13.2) | 1684 (13.3) | 322 (15.4) | 71 (15.2) | 7243 (13.3) | |
| 3 | 1392 (3.6) | 607 (4.8) | 137 (6.6) | 23 (4.9) | 2159 (3.9) | |
| 4 | 271 (0.7) | 133 (1.1) | 40 (1.9) | 15 (3.2) | 459 (0.8) | |
| 5 | 82 (0.2) | 57 (0.5) | 21 (1.0) | 15 (3.2) | 175 (0.3) | |
| Phase of Survey Administration | <0.0001 | |||||
| Phase 1 (April 23, 2020 – July 21, 2020) | 18,966 (48.5) | 6805 (53.9) | 924 (44.3) | 172 (36.8) | 26,867 (49.5) | |
| Phase 2 (August 19, 2020 – October 26, 2020) | 9244 (23.6) | 2840 (22.5) | 525 (25.2) | 134 (28.7) | 12,743 (23.5) | |
| Phase 3 (October 28, 2020 – March 29, 2021) | 10,924 (27.9) | 2975 (23.6) | 637 (30.5) | 161 (34.5) | 14,697 (27.1) | |
Analyses were conducted using frequencies and Wald’s chi-square statistical test, significance = 0.05.
1. Descriptive analyses were conducted before data imputation. Missing values (n = 3371) are due to missed questions in the outcome variable (i.e., food security status).
2. Definitions include: food security (enough of the kinds of food I/we wanted to eat); marginal food security (enough, but not always the kinds of food I/we wanted to eat); low food security (sometimes not enough to eat); very low food security (often not enough to eat).
3. Age categories derived from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2019.
4. Ethnicity and race categories were determined by the categories listed on the Census Pulse Household Survey.
5. Unknown responses indicate the survey respondent left the response for that question blank on the survey.