Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T17:24:06.871Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measurement of household food security in the USA and other industrialised countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2006

Kathy L Radimer  and
Kathy L Radimer
Kathy L Radimer
Affiliation:
Division of Health Examination Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, MD 20782, USA
Kathy L Radimer
Affiliation:
Division of Health Examination Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, MD 20782, USA
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Abstract Objective: To describe the history and current status of household food security measurement.

Conclusions:

In the 1980s evidence of rising levels of hunger was a concern for many, but disputed by some, Americans. Acknowledgement and quantification of hunger was hindered by the lack of an accepted definition and measure of hunger. Qualitative research at Cornell provided a conceptual framework, description, definition and survey items for hunger. The Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project developed an instrument used in numerous communities. Based upon these initiatives, widely accepted definitions of hunger and food insecurity, and the US Household Food Security Module for its measurement, now exist. The module classifies households as food-secure, or food-insecure without hunger or with moderate or severe hunger, and contains household-, adult- and child-referent items. Its inclusion in the Current Population Survey (CPS) since 1995 has yielded annual estimates of food insecurity. A six-item short form of the module, for surveys with severe time constraints, classifies households only as food-secure or food-insecure without or with hunger and contains no child-specific items. Surveys using the 18-item or short-form module can compare results with published national data from the CPS. Information about the module is available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/foodsecurity and http://www.fns.usda/fsec. Current research on food security measurement includes measurement of individual food insecurity and hunger, module performance regarding hunger duration and frequency, performance of the module in population subgroups, and the effect of translations on module meaning and performance. National surveys in Canada, New Zealand and Australia also have measured food security.

Keywords

Food insecurityFood insufficiencyHungerMeasurement
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 5 , Issue 6a , December 2002 , pp. 859 - 864
Copyright
Copyright © CAB International 2002

References

1Slater, MD (1981) Going hungry on food stamps. Soc. Policy 11(4), 18–24.Google Scholar
2 (1993) In . pp Washington, DC: US Conference of Mayors.Google Scholar
3Bishop, KP (1983) In . pp Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.Google Scholar
4 (1984) In . pp Boston, MA: Harvard University, School of Public Health.Google Scholar
5 (1985) In . pp Boston, MA: Harvard University, School of Public Health.Google Scholar
6 (1986) In . pp Boston, MA: Harvard University, School of Public Health.Google Scholar
7 (1984) In . pp Washington, DC: FRAC.Google Scholar
8 (1983) In . pp Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.Google Scholar
9 (1984) In . pp Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
10Radimer, KL, Olson, CM & Campbell, CC (1990) Development of indicators to assess hunger. J. Nutr. 120, 1544–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11Radimer, KL, Olson, CM, Green, JC, Campbell, CC & Habicht, J-P (1992) Understanding hunger and developing indicators to assess it in women and children. J. Nutr. Educ. 24, 36s–45s.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Radimer, KL. Understanding hunger and developing indicators to assess it. PhD dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1990Google Scholar
13Anderson, SA, ed. Core indicators of nutritional state for difficult-to-sample populations. J. Nutr. 1990; 120: 1559–99CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14Margen, S & Neuhauser, LA (1987) In . pp Berkeley, CA: University of California–Berkeley, School of Public Health.Google Scholar
16Frongillo, EA Jr, Rauschenbach, BS, Olson, CM, Kendall, A & Colmenares, AG (1997) Questionnaire-based measures are valid for the identification of rural households with hunger and food insecurity. J. Nutr. 127, 699–705.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17Kendall, A, Olson, CM & Frongillo, EA Jr (1995) Validation of the Radimer/Cornell measures of hunger and food insecurity. J. Nutr. 125, 2793–801.Google ScholarPubMed
18Hamilton, WL, Cook, JT, Thompson, WW, Buron, LF, Frongillo, EA & Olson, CM (1997) In . Report prepared for the US Department of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Service, pp Cambridge, MA: AbtGoogle Scholar
19Hamilton, WL, Cook, JT, Thompson, WW, Buron, LF, Frongillo, EA & Olson, CM (1997) In . Report prepared for the US Department of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Service, pp Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates.Google Scholar
20Carlson, SJ, Andrews, MS & Bickel, GW (1999) Measuring food insecurity and hunger in the United States: development of a national benchmark measure and prevalence estimates. J. Nutr. 129, 510s–6s.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21Blumberg, SJ, Bialostosky, K, Hamilton, WL & Briefel, RR (1999) The effectiveness of a short form of the Household Food Security Scale. Am. J. Public Health 89, 1231–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22Quigley, R & Watts, C (1997) In . pp Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.Google Scholar
23Reid, J. Developing food security indicators for New Zealand. Master's thesis, University of Otago, Otago, New Zealand, 1997Google Scholar
24Radimer, KL, Allsopp, R, Harvey, PWJ, Firman, DW & Watson, EK (1997) Food Insufficiency in Queensland. Aust. N.Z. J. Public Health 21, 303–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25Radimer, K (1996) Assessing food insecurity in industrialized countries. Proc. Nutr. Soc. N.Z. 21, 68–75.Google Scholar