Food Pantry Usage Patterns are Associated with Client Sociodemographics and Health.

Characterizing food pantry (FP) clients' FP usage patterns may provide opportunities to tailor health-related interventions. Respondents (n=245) at seven FPs reported their frequency and reliance on FPs and their sociodemographics, health status, and health-related trade-offs. Clients were categorized via latent class analysis. Higher FP usage was associated with being older, having a household member with heart disease, and putting off buying medicine to buy food. Lower FP usage was associated with higher levels of education and having a household member with cancer. Findings highlight the potential importance of measuring FP clients' degree of FP use.

Examining food insecurity among high school students: A risks and resources model.

Food insecurity is associated with several negative health outcomes, many of which can be detrimental to youth during the vulnerable life stage of adolescence. Among a sample of 1493 high school students, the current study utilizes a risks and resources model to examine ways that risks and resources come together to shape the lives and health of youth, making them more vulnerable or shielding them from food insecurity and its related negative health outcomes. A number of factors are proposed as important correlates of food insecurity measured at four perceived levels of aggregation: individual, family, school/peer, and community. These risks and resources are analyzed using a three-step ordinal regression model. Analyses reveal depression, intact family, student risk, and neighborhood risk are positively related to food insecurity, despite significant sociodemographic differences. In addition, self-esteem, eating meals with family, and peer social capital are all significant and negatively related to food insecurity. Collectively, these findings tell an important story about adolescent food insecurity and the relationships that social and psychological circumstances have with varying levels of food insecurity. This study highlights the importance of children and adolescents as reliable respondents and spokespersons of their own experiences with food insecurity.

Obesity and place: Chronic disease in the 500 largest U.S. cities.

OBJECTIVES: Extant research clearly points to a correlation between place and health, specifically as it pertains to chronic diseases like obesity. The present study examines this relationship among a diverse set of compositional place indicators and obesity rates across census tracts in the 500 largest cities in the United States. METHODS: Using data compiled from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 500 Cities project and the Census' American Community Survey, the analyses examined aggregate relationships between sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and housing characteristics of census tracts and crude prevalence obesity rates in over 27,000 census tracts located in the 500 largest cities in the United States. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis confirms the place-chronic health connection. Regardless of variable groups, deteriorating places with higher concentrations of low-income, minority populations reported more obesity prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: Place matters. The continuing burden of zip code in the United States for disenfranchised populations will likely continue to force policymakers to examine the role that place-based prevention and place-focused medical care plays in the future health and well-being of U.S. residents.