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Self-administration of a food security scale by adolescents: item functioning, socio-economic position and food intakes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Martin C Gulliford ,
Deepak Mahabir ,
Cheryl Nunes  and
Brian Rocke
Martin C Gulliford*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, King's College London, Capital House, 42 Weston Street, London, SE1 3QD, UK
Deepak Mahabir
Affiliation:
Nutrition and Metabolism Division, Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago
Cheryl Nunes
Affiliation:
Nutrition and Metabolism Division, Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago
Brian Rocke
Affiliation:
Nutrition and Metabolism Division, Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
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Abstract

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Objective

To evaluate the reliability and validity of a six-item food security scale when self-administered by adolescents.

Design

Cross-sectional questionnaire survey including the six-item food security measure, socio-economic variables and a food-frequency questionnaire.

Setting

Representative sample of 29 schools in Trinidad.

Subjects

In total 1903 students aged approximately 16 years.

Results

Item affirmatives ranged from 514 (27%) for the ‘balanced meal’ item to 128 (7%) for the ‘skipped or cut meals often’ item and 141 (7%) for the ‘hungry’ item. Item-score correlations ranged from 0.444 to 0.580. Cronbach's α was 0.77. Relative item severities from the Rasch model ranged from −1.622 (standard error 0.043) for the ‘balanced meal’ item to 1.103 (0.068) for the ‘skipped or cut meals often’ item and 0.944 (0.062) for the ‘hungry’ item. The ‘hungry’ item gave a slightly lower relative severity in boys than girls. Food insecurity was associated with household overcrowding (adjusted odds ratio comparing highest and lowest quartiles 2.61, 95% confidence interval 1.75 to 3.91), lack of pipe-borne water in the home, low paternal education or paternal unemployment. After adjusting for socio-economic variables, food insecurity was associated with less frequent consumption of fruit (0.75, 0.60 to 0.94) or fish (0.72, 0.58 to 0.88) but more frequent consumption of biscuits or cakes (1.47, 1.02 to 2.11).

Conclusions

The food security scale provides a valid, reliable measure in adolescents, although young people report being hungry but not eating relatively more frequently than adults. Food-insecure adolescents have low socio-economic position and may eat less healthy diets.

Keywords

Food securitySocio-economic positionDietary intakesAdolescents
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 8 , Issue 7 , October 2005 , pp. 853 - 860
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2005

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