Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Nutr Res Pract. 2008 Spring;2(1):26-34. doi: 10.4162/nrp.2008.2.1.26. Epub 2008 Mar 31.
This cross-sectional study assessed household food insecurity among low-income rural communities and examined its association with demographic and socioeconomic factors as well as coping strategies to minimize food insecurity. Demographic, socioeconomic, expenditure and coping strategy data were collected from 200 women of poor households in a rural community in Malaysia. Households were categorized as either food secure (n=84) or food insecure (n=116) using the Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity instrument. T-test, Chi-square and logistic regression were utilized for comparison of factors between food secure and food insecure households and determination of factors associated with household food insecurity, respectively. More of the food insecure households were living below the poverty line, had a larger household size, more children and school-going children and mothers as housewives. As food insecure households had more school-going children, reducing expenditures on the children's education is an important strategy to reduce household expenditures. Borrowing money to buy foods, receiving foods from family members, relatives and neighbors and reducing the number of meals seemed to cushion the food insecure households from experiencing food insufficiency. Most of the food insecure households adopted the strategy on cooking whatever is available at home for their meals. The logistic regression model indicates that food insecure households were likely to have more children (OR=1.71; p<0.05) and non-working mothers (OR=6.15; p<0.05), did not own any land (OR=3.18; p<0.05) and adopted the strategy of food preparation based on whatever is available at their homes (OR=4.33; p<0.05). However, mothers who reported to borrow money to purchase food (OR=0.84; p<0.05) and households with higher incomes of fathers (OR=0.99; p<0.05) were more likely to be food secure. Understanding the factors that contribute to household food insecurity is imperative so that effective strategies could be developed and implemented.
本横断面研究评估了低收入农村社区的家庭粮食不安全状况，并探讨了其与人口统计学和社会经济因素以及最小化粮食不安全的应对策略的关系。从马来西亚一个农村社区的 200 户贫困家庭中收集了人口统计学、社会经济学、支出和应对策略数据。使用 Radimer/Cornell 饥饿和粮食不安全工具将家庭分为粮食安全（n=84）或粮食不安全（n=116）。使用 t 检验、卡方检验和逻辑回归分别比较粮食安全和粮食不安全家庭之间的因素，以及确定与家庭粮食不安全相关的因素。更多的粮食不安全家庭生活在贫困线以下，家庭规模较大，有更多的孩子和上学的孩子，以及母亲是家庭主妇。由于粮食不安全家庭中有更多的孩子上学，减少孩子的教育支出是减少家庭支出的重要策略。借钱买食物、从家庭成员、亲戚和邻居那里获得食物以及减少用餐次数似乎可以减轻粮食不安全家庭的粮食不足问题。大多数粮食不安全家庭采取了在家中用现有食材做饭的策略。逻辑回归模型表明，粮食不安全家庭更有可能有更多的孩子（OR=1.71；p<0.05）和不工作的母亲（OR=6.15；p<0.05）、没有土地（OR=3.18；p<0.05）和采用基于家中现有食材做饭的策略（OR=4.33；p<0.05）。然而，报告借钱购买食物的母亲（OR=0.84；p<0.05）和父亲收入较高的家庭（OR=0.99；p<0.05）更有可能获得粮食安全。了解导致家庭粮食不安全的因素至关重要，以便制定和实施有效的策略。
