Doctoral Dissertation Research: Food Insecurity and Nonstandard Work among Low-income Rural Households, a Longitudinal Analysis.

Pennsylvania State Univ University Park, University Park PA

Investigators

Abstract

PI and Co- PI: Diane McLaughlin and Alisha J. Coleman Doctoral Dissertation Research: Food Insecurity, Nonstandard Work, and Low-income Rural Households 0825235 Abstract This research project will undertake a panel study to investigate predictors of food insecurity focusing on characteristics of employment of parents or primary and secondary caregivers in the household. Food insecurity refers to a household?s inability to obtain the food necessary for its members. The research question is: How do type and characteristics of employment (e.g. number of hours worked, days/schedule of employment, temporary/permanent jobs, job quality, multiple job holding and variability in income) of the primary and secondary caregivers relate to household food insecurity? The investigator will incorporate information on distances traveled to important locations such as parents? work, childcare, and supermarkets to determine if these relate to food insecurity and if they interact with employment characteristics to influence food insecurity. Data will come from the Family Life Project, which features a purposive sample of rural low-income families with young children from Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The data are longitudinal, following a cohort of families from the birth of the study?s target child until that child is aged three. The investigator will use the panel data and event history analysis to model transitions into and out of food insecurity. Latent class analysis will be used to identify patterns in food insecurity over time. These techniques will contribute to understanding how changes in work characteristics predict changes in food security status, while controlling for competing explanations. The research will improve our understanding of the predictors of food insecurity and help document the effects of nonstandard work arrangements. Policy impacts will result from identifying ways that existing programs, especially the federal Food Stamp Program, can better meet the needs of households with frequent changes in income due to their employment characteristics. By incorporating distance and location data, the analysis will aid in developing policies directed to meeting challenges related to distance and isolation faced by young families living in rural areas. Panel data allow for a determination of relationships between food insecurity, work arrangements and other predictors. To date, most food insecurity research has identified characteristics of food insecure households, the proposed research is important because it will identify factors that relate to transitions into food insecurity and out of food insecurity. Understanding these predictors will assist policy makers and practitioners in preventing the onset of food insecurity, as well as alleviating food insecurity once it is experienced.