Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Household Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Nationally Representative Study

AbstractPrevious research has demonstrated that the burden of household food insecurity is disproportionately high among racial/ethnic minority groups, yet no peer-reviewed studies have systematically examined racial/ethnic disparities in household food insecurity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional study on household food insecurity during COVID-19 used data from a nationally representative sample of US households through the 2020 Household Pulse Survey (HPS) (including all 50 states and the District of Columbia,n = 74,413 households). Six generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were estimated, and the results indicated that households headed by Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, or other racial/ethnic minorities were not significantly more food insecure than White households during the pandemic. However, a mong food-insecure households, Black households were more likely to report that they could not afford to buy more food; Asian and Hispanic households were more likely to be afraid to go out to buy food; Asian households were more likely to face transportation issues when purchasing food; while White households were more likely to report that stores did not have the food they wanted. Moreover, racial/ethnic minorities were significantly less confident about their household food security for the next 4 weeks than Whites. The coronavirus pandemic crisis has exposed and exacerbated the food injus tice in American society. Policymakers and local off...
Source: Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research