Measuring Food Insecurity and Hunger Phase 1 Report (2005) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Food Security Measure
2 The Food Security Measure
Pages 18-29
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BACKGROUND In 1990, the Life Sciences Research Office (LSRO) of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology prepared a report 18
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and methodologies that can be used across the NNMRR Program and at state and local levels." In response, a federal interagency working group comprising representatives from several federal agencies, academic researchers, private research institutions, and other stakeholders developed a food security survey module, a set of food security scales that combine information from sets of questions in the module, and a classification rule for characterizing the food security status of each household surveyed. These measurement and monitoring activities had a number of policy-related objectives: · Provide objective, standardized information on the extent and severity of food insecurity and the characteristics of persons affected by them so that allocation of public resources and de velopment of public policies and programs can be based on in formed public debate.
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In 1994, the two agencies sponsored the First National Conference on Food Security Measurement and Research, which brought together experts from government, academia, and other researchers in the field. One of the key purposes of the conference was to develop consensus on the appropriate conceptual basis for a national measure of food insecurity.
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. Finally, USDA contracted with a group of statisticians and economists at Iowa State University to consider various statistical issues in measuring food insecurity and hunger and specifically the statistical properties of the Rasch model, which is used to scale responses to the CPS Food Security Supplement (see Opsomer, Jensen, and Pan, 2003; Opsomer et al., 2002)
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. As mentioned earlier, the Life Sciences Research Office has defined and published definitions of food security, food insecurity, and hunger (Anderson, 1990.
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. FOOD SECURITY MEASUREMENT The Food Security Supplement to the Current Population Survey and the measurement scale are based on the underlying LSRO definitions.
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The questions are intended to measure both whether a household is "food secure" and the severity of food insecurity. The least severe form of food insecurity is worrying about getting enough food, and the most severe is skipping or cutting back on meals or losing weight because of lack of food.
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The panel recognizes that there are other important sources of deprivation not entirely driven by economic resources, such as the quality of food intake or nutrition, or lack of access to acceptable food options. Quality is important, but beyond the scope of this report.
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Households are classified into the three categories of food insecurity for purposes of monitoring the food security status of the population. These categories are used in part because they characterize household situations that are easier for the public and policy makers to understand than an abstract number, such as an average level of food insecurity.
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: · Food secure = households that denied all items or affirmed 1 or 2 items · Food insecure without hunger = households that affirmed 3 to 7 items · Food insecure with hunger = households that affirmed 8 or more items centage of households and individuals who are food secure, food insecure without hunger, and food insecure with hunger for the years 19982002 based on the CPS survey. For a concept that is relatively new, the food security measure has influenced policy making and the understanding of behavior and perceptions regarding the lack of resources to obtain food.
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* 1998 86.5 9.8 3.7 1999 88.5 8.6 2.9 2000 87.9 9.0 3.1 2001 87.8 8.9 3.3 2002 87.5 9.1 3.4 2003 87.3 9.3 3.4 Adults (by food security status of household)
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From page 29... ...
Not all individuals residing in food-insecure households are appropriately characterized as food insecure. Similarly, not all individuals in households classified as food insecure with hunger, nor all children in households classified as food insecure with hunger among children, were subject to reductions in food intake or experienced resource-constrained hunger.
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