Indicator: 55 - Food Insecurity

 

Why This Is Important

Children's good health and development depend on a diet sufficient in nutrients and calories.
A family's ability to provide for children's nutritional needs is linked to income or other
resources and secure access to adequate, nutritious food. Nutrition education regarding food
menus also influences children's access to appropriate food items. Children in food-insecure
households are at risk of hunger and sub-optimal development.

 

 

Where We Stand

For 2004, 12% of all respondents answered “often true” or “somewhat true” in response to
the statement, “I worried whether my food would run out before I got money to buy more.”
For the year 2003 the median household income for Maine was estimated at $39, 838.
Creating two categories of income, those households earning less than $35,000 a year and
those earning more, there is a statistical difference in reported food insecurity between the
two groups.

• 39% of respondents earning less than $35,000 a year responded “often true”
  or “somewhat true”.
• 7% of respondents earning more than $35,000 a year responded “often true”
  or“somewhat true”.

 

Data Sources and Context

Data on this indicator comes from a statewide telephone survey of Maine households with
children present who are age 18 or younger. The respondents to this survey were adults in
the household who self-identified as a parent. The indicator is similar to indicators used by
the Maine Development Foundation in their previous surveys of Maine citizens, or other
national surveys of families, so that the data could be used to monitor trends over time and
to compare Maine to the nation. This 2004-2005 survey was conducted by Critical Insights,
a strategic marketing research firm in Portland, Maine. During the months of December 2004
and January 2005, 400 Maine adults responded to the survey.

The adults were asked the following: “Is this statement often true or somewhat true: I worried
whether my food would run out before I got money to buy more.”

Only the data in the “all” column is statistically representative of adults in
households with children under the age of 18 in Maine. The information that is
provided by category of household income is a rough estimate using weighted data
based on the 2003 American Communities Survey of the U.S. Census, household
income report for Maine. These categories are estimates only for descriptive
purposes and should not be used to make inferences about all households in Maine
with children under the age of 18.