• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.216-227
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• 2022

Background: Food insecurity may contribute to mental health indicators such as stress, anxiety, or depression. We investigated whether food insecurity was associated with mental health indicators and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a representative sample of the Korean population. Methods: This study enrolled 12,987 adults without a history of medically serious disease from the 2012, 2013, and 2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Household food security status was categorized as "food security," "mild food insecurity," and "moderate/severe food insecurity." The association between mental health and HRQoL was evaluated using a multivariate logistic regression model with food security as the reference group. Results: The adjusted odds ratio of adverse mental health or low HRQoL increased significantly in mild or moderate/severe food insecurity compared to food security. In the moderate/severe food insecurity group, it was 1.98% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-2.99) higher for perceived stress, 3.58% (95% CI, 2.44-5.26) higher for depression symptoms, 4.16% (95% CI, 2.68-6.45) higher for suicidal ideation, and 2.81% (95% CI, 1.91-4.15) higher for quality of life. Conclusion: Food insecurity was strongly associated with negative mental health status and poor HRQoL. There is a need for a dietary support program that provides psychosocial support to those experiencing food insecurity.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.762-768
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• 2007

This study examined household food insecurity and the associations of food insecurity with socioeconomic conditions, food behaviors, and nutrient intakes among 458 older adults(mean age=$73.2{\pm}4.5$) from 5 clusters of low-income areas in Seoul, Korea. Using an adapted version of the USDA short form household food insecurity scale, 63.4% of the households were food insecure(40.7% for food insecure without hunger and 22.7% for food insecure with hunger). The proportion of household was lower on the items measured more severe level of food insecurity. Food insecurity was linearly and negatively associated with food expenditure, food secured period and the degree of nutrition management skills, health status and depression. Food secure older adults had mere of energy and other nutrients from animal resources(riboflavin and animal protein, fat and calcium), but less of carbohydrates than those from the food insecure households. These results suggest household food insecurity measures used in this study was valid as well as food insecurity was prevalent and an important indicator of nutrition well-being among low income elderly persons.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.308-319
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to assess risk factors associated with food insecurity in the Korean elderly aged over 65 years using data from the Korea National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey 2013 (KNHANES VI). A total of 1,200 subjects were analyzed among the participants of the KNHANES 2013 by using SPSS statistics complex samples (ver. 21.0). Food insecurity was measured by using the modified US Household Food Security/Hunger Survey Module. Thirteen percent of subjects lived in food insecure households. There were differences in the prevalence of food insecurity according to sex, educational level, income level, and household structure. Mean age of the food insecurity group was significantly higher than that of the food security group. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that food insecurity was significantly associated with alcohol intake (OR: 1.82), prevalence of melancholy (OR: 2.07) and suicidal thoughts (OR: 2.67), and intake deficiency of energy (OR: 1.60), calcium (OR: 1.97), iron (OR: 1.97), potassium (OR: 1.96), riboflavin (OR: 1.76), and niacin (OR: 1.64), while not with smoking, physical activity, chronic diseases including obesity, anemia, diabetes, and osteoarthritis, and deficiency of protein, vitamin A, thiamin and vitamin C. These findings suggest that food insecurity is strongly related to mental health and certain nutrient intakes. Prospective research is needed to establish the effects of food insecurity on chronic diseases.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.110-118
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• 2021

Objectives: A growing number of people depend on flexible employment, characterized by outsider employment status and perceived job insecurity. This study investigated whether there was a synergistic effect of employment status (full-time vs. part-time) and perceived job insecurity on major depressive disorder. Methods: Data were derived from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health of 12 640 of Canada's labor force population, aged 20 to 74. By combining employment status with perceived job insecurity, we formed four employment categories: full-time secure, full-time insecure, part-time secure, and part-time insecure. Results: Results showed no synergistic health effect between employment status and perceived job insecurity. Regardless of employment status (full-time vs. part-time), insecure employment was significantly associated with a high risk of major depressive disorder. Analysis of the interaction between gender and four flexible employment status showed a gender-contingent effect on this link in only full-time insecure category. Men workers with full-time insecure jobs were more likely to experience major depressive disorders than their women counterparts. Conclusions: This study's findings imply that perceived job insecurity may be a critical factor for developing major depressive disorder, in both men and women workers.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.62-71
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• 2016

Food insecurity is associated with poor health outcomes. In particular, previous studies marked the adverse outcomes on mental health. This study examined the association of food insecurity and mental health in Korean adults using the data from the 2013 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). The study population was 5,685 adults in Korea. Food insecurity was examined using 18-items. A diagnosis of depression was considered to be depression. Depressive symptoms were defined as more than 2 weeks of depression feelings. Multivariate logistic regression models examined the associations between food insecurity and depression and depressive symptom. The overall prevalence of depression was 3.8% in the participants. Food insecurity was associated significantly with depression and depressive symptom in the unadjusted and age and sex adjusted model. Food insecurity was associated with depression, depressive symptoms in the multivariate logistic regression model (OR:3.49, OR:3.70). Marginal food insecurity was not associated with depression in the multivariate logistic regression model. The results showed that food insecurity is associated with depression and depressive symptoms in adults. Multi-disciplinary interventions are needed including nutrition, health, health policy, and a healthy environment for the food insecurity group to achieve a better health outcome, especially mental health.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.226-232
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• 2016

Background: This study was conducted to analyze the influence of socioeconomic characteristics of community on the food insecurity under the control of personal socioeconomic factors which may be influence to the food security. Methods: Food insecurity and individual socioeconomic characteristics were obtained from 2012 community health survey. Socioeconomic characteristics of communities were extracted from the data of Statistics Korea and local governments. Personal socioeconomic factors were sex, age, educational status, job, and monthly family income. Socioeconomic characteristics of communities were administrative district (urban vs. rural), senior population rate, degree of financial self reliance, degree of financial independence, portion of welfare budget, number of welfare facilities, and unemployment rate. We analysed the relationships between the food insecurity and socioeconomic characteristics of community using multi-level analysis under the control of personal characteristics. Results: On personal level age, sex, education status, and monthly family income were related with food insecurity. On community level administrative district (urban vs. rural), degree of financial independence, unemployment rate, and proportion of welfare budget among local general government accounts were related to individual food insecurity. Rural area, district with low levels of financial independence, low portion of welfare budget, and greater unemployment rate showed a higher level of food insecurity. Conclusion: To reduce the level of food insecurity in a community it is necessary to decrease the unemployment rate, in addition to providing support from the central government by increasing the proportion of the welfare budget so that both factors contribute to raising the degree of financial independence.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.304-311
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• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between household food insecurity and nutritional status of children in low-income households. A cross sectional study involved a survey of households (n = 223) receiving the financial assistance. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Eligible mothers that fulfilled the inclusion criteria such as non-pregnant, non-lactating mothers, aged 18 to 55 years with their youngest children aged 2 to 12 years, were purposively selected. The Radimer/Cornell hunger and food-insecurity instrument was administered and children's height and weight were measured. RESULTS: About 16.1% of the households were food secure, while 83.9% experienced some kind of food insecurity. Out of food insecure category, 29.6% households were food insecure, 19.3% women were individual food insecure and 35.0% fell into the child hunger category. Education of the mother (P = 0.047), household size (P = 0.024), number of children (P = 0.024), number of children going to school (P = 0.048), total monthly income (P < 0.001), income per capital (P < 0.001), number of household members contributing to the income (P = 0.018) and food expenditure (P = 0.006) were significant risk factors for household food insecurity. The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in children were 61.0%, 61.4% and 30.6% respectively. Based on multinomial logistic regression, children in food-insecure households were 2.15 times more likely to be underweight and three times to be stunted than children in the food-secure households. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that household food insecurity is associated with the nutritional status of the children in the rural area of Northeastern Peninsular Malaysia.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.19-32
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to examine household food insecurity and the associations of food insecurity with socioeconomic characteristics, food behaviors, health status and nutrient intake among elderly people in a rural area. This study included 191 elderly people (mean age = $72.0{\pm}7.4$) in Jeollabuk-do, Jangsu-gun. House food insecurity was measured using an adapted version of the USDA short form household food insecurity scale, and nutrient intake measured by a 24-hour dietary recall. Only 15.2% of the subjects were in food-insecure households, 84.8% of the elderly households were food-secure. The food-insecure households were significantly lower in the number of family, frequency of shopping, and perceived health status than the food-secure households. In addition, they had serious tooth problems and NSI (Nutrition Screening Index) scores. Food-insecure households were significantly lower in most areas of nutrient intake (energy, protein, fat, Ca, P, Fe, K, Na, Zn, Vit. $B_2$, niacin, Vit. E), and also lower in nutrient intake compared to dietary reference intake (energy, protein, P, Fe, K, Na, Vit. $B_1$, Vit. $B_2$, niacin, Vit. E). These results suggest that the household food insecurity measures used in this study were an important indicator of nutritional well-being among elderly persons in the rural area. Food insecurity should be considered an important issue to public health and food service programs should be expanded for food-insecure households in rural areas.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.329-339
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of job insecurity on job related depression and anxiety in large- and small-sized company employees. Methods: Data of the third Korean Working Condition Survey in 2011 were used. Subjects were 2,050 large-sized company employees and 18,924 small-sized company workers. $x^2$ test and multiple logistic regression using SAS 9.2 were conducted. Results: Large- and small-sized company employees showed significant differences in terms of demographic, health-related, and job-related characteristics. From the bivariate analysis, gender, income, self-rated health, occupation, working hours per week, job-related stress, workplace violence, and job insecurity were significantly related to job-related depression/anxiety in large-sized company employees. From the multivariate analysis, higher income (AOR: 0.22, 95%CI: 0.07~0.71), better health perception (AOR: 0.05, 95%CL: 0.01~0.18), 40 or more working hours per week (AOR: 0.20, 95%CI: 0.05~0.79) showed lower risk for job-related depression/anxiety. From the bivariate and multivariate analysis, better health perception (AOR: 0.32, 95%CI: 0.20~0.53), higher job-related stress (AOR: 2.57, 95%CI: 1.68~3.93, workplace violence experience (AOR: 4.26; 95%CI: 2.88~6.30), and job insecurity experience (AOR: 1.90, 95%CI: 1.18~3.05) were significantly related to job-related depression/anxiety in small-sized company employees. Conclusion: Results of this study suggest that job insecurity experience was significantly related to job-related depression/anxiety in small-sized company employees but not in large-sized company employees. Therefore, small-sized company workers who have experienced feeling of job insecurity are vulnerable population in terms of job-related depression/anxiety.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.135-142
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• 2018

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This cross-sectional study assessed household food security status and determined its association with diet quality and weight status among indigenous women from the Mah Meri tribe in Peninsular Malaysia. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity Instrument and the Malaysian Healthy Eating Index (HEI) were used to assess household food security status and diet quality, respectively. Information on socio-demographic characteristics and 24-hour dietary recall data were collected through face-to-face interview, and anthropometric measurements including weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) were obtained from 222 women. RESULTS: Majority of households (82.9%) experienced different levels of food insecurity: 29.3% household food insecurity, 23.4% individual food insecurity, and 30.2% fell into the child hunger group. The food-secure group had significantly fewer children and smaller household sizes than the food-insecure groups (P < 0.05). The mean household income, income per capita, and food expenditure significantly decreased as food insecurity worsened (P < 0.001). The food-secure group had significantly higher Malaysian HEI scores for grains and cereals (P < 0.01), as well as for meat, poultry, and eggs (P < 0.001), than the food-insecure groups. The child-hunger group had significantly higher fat (P < 0.05) and sodium (P < 0.001) scores than the food-secure and household food-insecure groups. Compared to the individual food-insecure and child-hunger groups, multivariate analysis of covariance showed that the food-secure group was significantly associated with a higher Malaysian HEI score while the household food-insecure group was significantly associated with a higher BMI after controlling for age (P < 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of indigenous households faced food insecurity. Food insecurity at the individual and child levels was associated with lower quality of diet, while food insecurity at the household level was associated with higher body weight. Therefore, a substantial effort by all stakeholders is warranted to improve food insecurity among poorer households. The results suggest a pressing need for nutritional interventions to improve dietary intake among low income households.