Food Insecurity and Socioeconomic Disadvantage in Australia
Centre for Social Impact UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Australia
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Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(2), 559; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020559
Received: 9 December 2019
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Revised: 8 January 2020
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Accepted: 9 January 2020
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Published: 15 January 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Global Health)
Research on food insecurity in Australia has typically relied on a single-item measure and finds that approximately 5% of the population experiences food insecurity. This research also finds that demographic characteristics such as household composition and marital status affect levels of food insecurity, independent of income level. The present study examines the prevalence and correlates of food insecurity in a cohort (n = 400) of people experiencing entrenched disadvantage in Perth, Western Australia. Using the US Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Survey Module, we find that food insecurity at the household, adult, and child level is at sharply elevated levels, with 82.8% of the sample reporting household food insecurity, 80.8% and 58.3% experiencing food insecurity among adults and children, respectively. Demographic characteristics do not significantly affect levels of food insecurity, and food insecurity is associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes. Food insecurity is positively correlated with access to food emergency relief services, indicating that these services are being used by those most in need, but do not address the root causes of food insecurity. Policy and practice should focus on increasing stable access to adequate quantities and quality of food and addressing the structural causes of food insecurity.
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Keywords:
food insecurity; socioeconomic disadvantage; mental health; physical health; service use; public policy
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
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MDPI and ACS Style
Seivwright, A.N.; Callis, Z.; Flatau, P. Food Insecurity and Socioeconomic Disadvantage in Australia. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 559. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020559
AMA Style
Seivwright AN, Callis Z, Flatau P. Food Insecurity and Socioeconomic Disadvantage in Australia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(2):559. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020559
Chicago/Turabian StyleSeivwright, Ami N., Zoe Callis, and Paul Flatau. 2020. "Food Insecurity and Socioeconomic Disadvantage in Australia" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 2: 559. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020559
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