In Longitudinal Data From the Survey of Program Dynamics, 16.9% of the U.S. Population Was Exposed to Household Food Insecurity in a 5-Year Period

Abstract

This study provides US national-level estimates of exposure to and persistence of food insecurity in a period of 5 consecutive years. Based on longitudinal data from the Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD) (n = 12,185), 16.9% of the US population was exposed to household food insecurity in at least 1 year and 1.04% experienced persistent insecurity for 5 years from 1998 to 2002. Assuming that transition probabilities are stable, a Markov model allows further estimates for a longer period. From this approach, 25.9% of the US population was exposed to household food insecurity in a 10-year period. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the Publisher's online edition of Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition to view the free supplemental file.