The Association between Food Insecurity and Making Hunger-Coping Trade-Offs during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Sources of Food and Easiness in Food Access

Abstract

Many individuals make financial, health and food related trade-offs to cope with the challenges of food insecurity and to meet their household needs for healthy, affordable food. A survey (n = 652) was conducted in nine rural counties in South Carolina, USA, during the COVID-19 pandemic from August 2020 to July 2021. We examine if level of food insecurity predicts hunger-coping trade-offs, and whether this relationship is moderated by easiness in food access and dependence on different food source types. Nearly one-third of the respondents experienced food insecurity. Making trade-offs between paying for food and other household expenses was common among the rural residents as on average they made nearly one type of trade-off in the past three months. The number of trade-offs was the highest among highly food insecure respondents (mean = 2.64), followed by moderately food insecure respondents (mean = 1.66); low food insecure respondents had the lowest number of trade-offs (mean = 0.39). The moderating effects of easiness in food access and dependence on food sources varied by level of food insecurity. The results show that individuals at different levels of food insecurity use different strategies to fulfill their food needs and social programs are more often utilized than personal food sources. We conclude with implications for addressing food insecurity in order to reduce the possibility of making trade-offs.

Cutting more than meals: Increasing severity of food insecurity is associated with the number and types of household financial strategies used to cope with inflation

“…Research has explored how people cope with financial hardship generally (Baek & DeVaney, 2010; Edin & Lein, 1997) and food insecurity specifically (Kamdar et al., 2019; Farahbakhsh et al., 2015; Leddy et al., 2020; Gundersen & Garasky, 2012). Some recent research has explored the intersection between food insecurity and financial coping actions (Luo et al., 2022; Niles et al., 2020), but gaps remain in terms of the breadth of actions examined, how these actions configure into strategies and the impact of the severity of food insecurity on the employment of these strategies. Accordingly, the present study empirically identified five categories of coping strategies from 51 possible financial management actions and examined the relationship between the severity of food insecurity and engagement in each strategy.…”

“…Participants were asked to indicate whether they had taken certain actions “to help manage expenses in the face of rising costs of living” [emphasis included]. The period to which participants were asked to refer when identifying the actions taken was “this year (2022).” The possible actions presented to participants were identified through review of the literature on food insecurity and on general financial hardship to identify household and individual‐level actions taken to cope with each (e.g., Edin & Lein, 1997; Luo et al., 2022; Niles et al., 2020). In addition, media articles reporting on the cost‐of‐living crisis were reviewed to identify actions that were common or resonant enough to warrant public reporting (for example, the dilemma of choosing whether to “heat or eat” and people, particularly young people, combining households; Holmes, 2022; The Guardian, 2022).…”

“…Therefore, the scope of actions extends beyond food‐related behaviour and could therefore be employed to deal with a variety of budgetary constraints. However, previous studies, though mostly reliant on binary measures of food insecurity, have found that food‐insecure households were more likely to engage in each action than their food‐secure counterparts and were more likely to use a greater number of strategies (Luo et al., 2022; Niles et al., 2020). This suggests an association between food insecurity and the financial strategies used to manage financial hardship, but it is not known how the severity of food insecurity affects the number and type of strategies used.…”

“…These include network‐based strategies, such as drawing on friends and family; work‐based strategies, including taking on more hours or additional jobs; and agency‐based strategies, by accessing charities and services (Edin & Lein, 1997). Common actions in response to food insecurity examined in the literature include eating less, buying more non‐perishable foods, buying cheaper foods, skipping bills to pay for food, buying food on credit, getting food from friends and family, and getting assistance from services such as food banks (Calloway et al., 2015; Heflin et al., 2011; Luo et al., 2022; Niles et al., 2020). Therefore, the scope of actions extends beyond food‐related behaviour and could therefore be employed to deal with a variety of budgetary constraints.…”

“…Therefore, this study has two main aims: first, to investigate the different food and financial strategies that people engage in to cope with rising costs of living. There are several discrete actions that households can take to manage their budgets (Edin & Lein, 1997; Luo et al., 2022; Niles et al., 2020). Empirically determining whether and how these actions form strategies, as we elaborate, has important implications for understanding the health and other impacts of economic and financial conditions on households.…”