Food Insecurity in the United States: An Examination of Race/Ethnicity and Nativity Status

• In Event: 212 - Section on Inequality, Poverty and Mobility Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 05. Food and Inequality

Abstract

Food insecurity is a persistent problem in the United States, with numerous health implications including compromised diet quality, psychological distress, malnutrition, and hunger. Food insecurity is also disproportionately distributed across racial/ethnic groups, with some evidence that blacks and Latinos experience higher rates than non-Latino whites. But no research examines how race/ethnicity affects food insecurity for immigrants in the United States. Using new assimilation theory and the 1999-2010 waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) , this study investigates the relationship between food insecurity and both race/ethnicity and immigrant status. Results, when socioeconomic status is held constant, provide evidence for a nonwhite/white divide in food insecurity for both immigrants and the native-born. The results have implications for food assistance policies and provide insight into a continuing pattern of racial/ethnic inequality in the United States.

Author

• Matthew A. Painter, University of Wyoming