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Research Opportunities Concerning the Causes and Consequences of Child Food Insecurity and Hunger Workshop Summary (2013) / Chapter Skim
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2 Defining and Measuring Food Security
Pages 4-10

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From page 4...
... Each question is qualified by the stipulation that the outcomes are due to a lack of financial resources. This version of the questionnaire uses a one-year reference period, asking many questions about the time period "in the last 12 months." The questions may also be asked using a 1Detailed information about the history of food security measurement and the measure ment itself is available on the website of the Economic Research Service (ERS)
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From page 5...
... These households are deemed to be food secure and are not asked the ques tions in the Household Food Security Survey Module. Household Food Security Survey Module Survey -- One-Year Reference Period Now I'm going to read you several statements that people have made about their food situation.
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From page 6...
... Now I'm going to read you several statements that people have made about the food situation of their children. For these statements, please tell me whether the statement was OFTEN true, SOMETIMES true, or NEVER true in the last 12 months for any child under 18 years old living in the household.
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From page 7...
... Households are classified into food security status categories based on the number of food-insecure responses to the questions,2 consistent with statistical evidence that this number reflects the level of food hardship experienced by the family. The three categories of household food s ­ ecurity are (1)
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From page 8...
... , that the measure was developed by the Food Security Measurement Project (1995–1997) , with a multiobjective mandate to develop reliable measures of food security, food insecurity, and hunger that were scientifically valid for the U.S.
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From page 9...
... As noted above, the full 18 questions referenced to 12 months have been included in the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement annually since 1995. For each question, an affirmative response is followed up with a query as to whether the condition or behavior occurred in the previous 30 days.6 The full 18 questions have also been included in the family questionnaire of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey since 1999.
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From page 10...
... included the stan D dard 18 items with 12-month reference in its child development supplement in 1997, and in the core PSID in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007. As examples of other uses in large studies, the standard 18-item module was included in multiple waves of the Fragile Families Study and Children's HealthWatch (previously Children's Sentinel Nutritional Assessment Program)
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Key Terms

  • food insecurity
  • child food
  • measuring food
  • current population
  • population survey

  • household food
  • low food
  • security scale
  • security survey
  • survey module

  • reference period
  • nutritional state
  • survey food
  • security questions
  • security measurement

  • reference annually
  • concepts related
  • screening questions
  • preliminary screening
  • core concepts

  • food supplies
  • define food
  • food secure
  • food access
  • emergency food

  • adult food
  • security measure
  • security status
  • examination survey
  • national nutrition


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