Sociodemographic characteristics by food security status
| Characteristic | No. (%) missing n = 430 | No. (%) of caregivers* | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total study population n = 430 | Food insecure† n = 143 | Food secure† n = 243 | ||
| Child age, mo, mean ± SD | 2 (0.5) | 78.2 (71.3) | 83.7 (73.8) | 75.0 (70.0) |
| Child with a chronic health condition | 1 (0.2) | 257 (59.9) | 91 (63.6) | 138 (57.0) |
| Single-parent household | 0 (0) | 62 (14.4) | 36 (25.2) | 18 (7.4) |
| Maternal ethnicity | 0 (0) | |||
| European | 147 (34.2) | 33 (23.1) | 104 2.8) | |
| East Asian | 43 (10.0) | 6 (4.2) | 34 (14.0) | |
| South and Southeast Asian | 94 (21.9) | 36 (25.2) | 46 (18.9) | |
| Black | 32 (7.4) | 18 (12.6) | 8 (3.3) | |
| Arabic | 32 (7.4) | 12 (8.4) | 15 (6.2) | |
| Latin American | 21 (4.9) | 11 (7.7) | 10 (4.1) | |
| Indigenous | 10 (2.3) | 4 (2.8) | 6 (2.5) | |
| Other | 51 (11.9) | 23 (16.1) | 20 (8.2) | |
| Employment | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Both caregivers employed full time | 89 (20.7) | 8 (5.6) | 76 (31.3) | |
| One caregiver employed full time | 212 (49.3) | 70 (49.0) | 124 (51.0) | |
| Both caregivers employed part time | 8 (1.9) | 4 (2.8) | 3 (1.2) | |
| Neither caregiver employed | 31 (7.2) | 23 (16.1) | 6 (2.5) | |
| Other (e.g., parental leave) | 90 (20.9) | 38 (26.6) | 34 (14.0) | |
| Number of children | 9 (2.1) | 2.2 (1.2) | 2.5 (1.4) | 2.0 (1.0) |
| Family income before tax, $ | 71 (16.5) | |||
| 0 to 39 999 | 104 (29.0) | 64 (49.2) | 30 (15.2) | |
| 40 000 to 79 999 | 86 (24.0) | 39 (30.0) | 38 (19.3) | |
| 80 000 to 149 999 | 101 (28.1) | 22 (16.9) | 67 (34.0) | |
| ≥ 150 000 | 69 (18.9) | 5 (3.8) | 62 (31.5) | |
| Trouble making ends meet | 10 (2.3) | 157 (37.4) | 96 (68.6) | 42 (17.5) |
| Trouble paying electricity, heat or telephone bill | 7 (1.6) | |||
| Never true | 270 (63.8) | 47 (33.1) | 201 (83.4) | |
| Sometimes true | 127 (30.0) | 77 (54.2) | 36 (14.9) | |
| Often true | 26 (6.1) | 18 (12.7) | 4 (1.7) | |
| Housing | 4 (0.9) | |||
| Owned | 251 (58.9) | 53 (37.6) | 183 (75.3) | |
| Paying rent | 170 (39.9) | 87 (61.7) | 57 (23.5) | |
| Other | 5 (1.2) | 1 (0.7) | 3 (1.2) | |
| Caregiver’s own health | 4 (0.9) | |||
| Fair or poor | 64 (15.0) | 39 (27.3) | 17 (7.1) | |
| Excellent, very good or good | 362 (85.0) | 104 (72.7) | 224 (92.9) | |
| Month of admission | 1 (0.2) | |||
| April | 50 (11.7) | 19 (13.3) | 30 (12.4) | |
| May | 90 (21.0) | 35 (24.5) | 46 (19.0) | |
| June | 75 (17.5) | 30 (21.0) | 38 (15.7) | |
| July | 61 (14.2) | 15 (10.5) | 40 (16.5) | |
| August | 63 (14.7) | 18 (12.6) | 36 (14.9) | |
| September | 60 (14.0) | 14 (9.8) | 36 (14.9) | |
| October‡ | 30 (7.0) | 12 (8.4) | 16 (6.6) | |
| Duration of admission, d, mean ± SD | 5 (1.2) | 5.4 (5.7) | 5.5 (5.6) | 5.4 (6.0) |
| Minimum, maximum | 0, 40 | 0, 39 | 0, 40 | |
| 25th percentile | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| 75th percentile | 6 | 7 | 6 | |
Note: HFSSM = Household Food Security Survey Module, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Unless indicated otherwise.
↵† Caregivers were identified as household food secure if they did not have any affirmative items on both the adult and child questions of the HFSSM. Forty-four (10.2%) caregivers did not complete the HFSSM and food security status was not calculated.
↵‡ Study finished on Oct. 20, 2020.