Social Cohesion and Food Insecurity: Insights from the Geographic Research on Wellbeing (GROW) Study
Social Cohesion and Food Insecurity: Insights from the Geographic Research on Wellbeing (GROW) Study
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DOI：
10.1007/s10995-016-2119-5
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发表时间：
2017-02-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Cubbin, Catherine
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Denney, Justin T.;Kimbro, Rachel Tolbert;Cubbin, Catherine
目的美国的粮食不安全是一个顽固的公共卫生问题，影响到超过五分之一的有孩子的家庭，并不成比例地影响到种族和少数民族妇女及其子女。过去的研究和政策侧重于家庭粮食不安全的预测因素，而忽视了更广泛的因素，如人们认为的社区社会凝聚力，这些因素可能会保护那些最容易受到粮食不安全影响的人。方法我们利用地理幸福研究(N=2847)中的种族和民族多样性数据集，调查社会凝聚力是否影响粮食不安全，以及它是否调节种族/民族与粮食不安全之间的关系。结果我们发现，即使在考虑了重要的家庭社会经济因素后，感知的居住社区社会凝聚力水平越低，食物不安全的几率也越高。此外，我们的结果表明，社会凝聚力对于减少种族和少数民族母亲的粮食不安全风险最为相关。例如，在母亲认为凝聚力很小或没有凝聚力的社区，拉美裔移民母亲食物不安全的概率接近0.40，在母亲认为凝聚力很高的社区，低于0.10。结论在实践中，较高水平的邻里社会凝聚力可以防止有子女的家庭粮食不安全，特别是对粮食不安全风险较高的种族和少数民族家庭。支持以建立更紧密的社区为重点的方案，可能是减少总体粮食不安全和减少按种族和族裔划分的粮食不安全差距的关键。
Objectives Food insecurity in the United States is a stubborn public health issue, affecting more than one in five households with children and disproportionately impacting racial and ethnic minority women and their children. Past research and policy has focused on household predictors of food insecurity, but neglected broader factors, such as perceived neighborhood social cohesion, that might protect those most vulnerable to food insecurity. Methods We use a racially and ethnically diverse data set from the Geographic Research on Wellbeing study (N = 2847) of women and their young children in California to investigate whether social cohesion influences food insecurity and whether it moderates the relationship between race/ethnicity and food insecurity. Results We find that lower levels of perceived residential neighborhood social cohesion associate with higher odds of food insecurity even after considering important household socioeconomic factors. In addition, our results suggest that social cohesion is most relevant for reducing the risk of food insecurity among racial and ethnic minority mothers. For example, the probability of food insecurity for immigrant Latina mothers is nearly 0.40 in neighborhoods where mothers perceive little to no cohesion and less than 0.10 in neighborhoods where mothers perceive high cohesion. Conclusions for Practice Higher levels of neighborhood perceived social cohesion are protective against food insecurity in households with children and especially so for racial and ethnic minority households who are at a heightened risk of food insecurity. Supporting programs that focus on building closer knit communities may be a key to reducing food insecurity overall and for reducing disparities in food insecurity by race and ethnicity.