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

Abstract

Previous 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, among 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 injustice in American society. Policymakers and local officials should take concerted actions to improve the capacity of food supply and ensure food equality across all racial/ethnic groups.

Parents’ Perception of Food Insecurity and of Its Effects on Their Children in Italy Six Months after the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak

“…Unfortunately, this population subgroup was only included in the present survey in a limited way, and the 3% respondents who were not of Italian origin did not appear to suffer from FI more than those of Italian origin. Interestingly, a study by Morales et al highlighted that, among 74413 US households, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, or other racial/ethnic minorities were not significantly more food insecure than White households during the pandemic [ 48 ]. As a matter of fact, global COVID-19 data reveal a concrete and urgent threat to food security [ 49 , 50 ].…”

The Sequential Mediating Effects of Dietary Behavior and Perceived Stress on the Relationship between Subjective Socioeconomic Status and Multicultural Adolescent Health

“…Due to the pandemic, prolonged school closures and parental unemployment have been reported as threats to adolescents’ health [ 47 ]. The number of children skipping meals is increasing due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic [ 48 ], especially among adolescents of minority ethnic families, who constituted a high proportion [ 49 ]. To address this health inequity, an institutional foundation is needed to ensure universal health coverage from a holistic perspective (considering the whole life process), including the socioeconomic environment of vulnerable children and adolescents.…”

Rural-urban differences in the labor-force impacts of COVID-19 in the United States

“…Rural areas, while not as overwhelmingly white as often portrayed, are still home to a higher proportion of white residents than urban areas (Lee and Sharp 2017;Lichter 2012). Given significant inequalities in COVID-19 mortality, infection rates, wealth, and economic hardships between white and non-white Americans due to deep-seated structural inequalities (Cheng, Sun, and Monnat 2020;Dias 2021;Enriquez and Goldstein 2020;Henning-Smith, Tuttle, and Kozhimannil 2021;Morales et al 2020;Wrigley-Field et al 2020), it is likely that rural-urban differences in racial composition may create a relative rural advantage in labor force impacts. Additionally, rural-urban differences in government mandates and shutdowns may also suggest a rural advantage in labor force impacts (Pender 2020).…”

“…The economic disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have been unprecedented in the United States, including record-high unemployment claims (Brave, Butters, and Fogarty 2020;Brynjolfsson et al 2020), widespread food and housing insecurity (Cowin, Martin, and Stevens 2020;Enriquez and Goldstein 2020;Morales, Morales, and Beltran 2020), and rising physical and emotional health challenges (Pfefferbaum and North 2020;Stainback, Hearne, and Trieu 2020). The majority of empirical work on the pandemic to date has focused on either the nation as a whole or the urban population, with rural areas-approximately 46 million people-remaining largely ignored (Mueller et al 2021).…”

“…Further, the limited evidence that is available suggests the presence of considerable geographic heterogeneity between rural and urban areas in the pandemic's impacts. Due to varying patterns of disease prevalence, local mitigation strategies (Karim and Chen 2021;Lakhani et al 2020;Morales et al 2020;Paul et al 2020;Souch and Cossman 2021), and economic structure between urban and rural areas (Lichter and Brown 2011;Vias 2012), there are strong a priori reasons to expect rural-urban variation in the social and economic impacts of the pandemic. Assessing this variation advances our understanding of how the pandemic has influenced spatial and regional inequalities in the United States and has the potential to inform mitigation and recovery policies.…”