Erica Rodriguez

A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth, and Severity of Food Insecurity by Kelly Stamper Balisteri is an article about a study focused on food insecurity in the US. Food insecurity is the lack of consistent access to adequate amounts of food, and this study shows how problematic it continues to be in the US. Rates of food insecurity have been on the rise since 2000, and climaxed during the Great Recession in 2008. Even with improvements of the economy, food insecurity has remained high for many households, mostly because of the rise of inflation and the price increase of food. The methods used to collect data for the study on food insecurity, was by Current Population Surveys (CPS) that were given at three chosen time points. The three time points chosen for analysis were 2001 to 2003, 2006 to 2008, and 2011 to 2013. The time points used in the study assess the beginning of the decade, the time of the recession, and post recession. In order to measure food security, the USDA developed the household food security scale to measure the severity of food insecurity in the previous twelve months. From the food security questionnaire, the Food Insecurity Index (FII) was created to find the degree of how food insecure a household was. The study examines the severity of food insecurity along the decade by race and ethnicity, and by low income households with and without children. Table 1 shows that there has been no recovery since the Great Recession in any measure from low to very low food security in households that are low-income, with children. Food insecurity has increased the most for low-income households without children. Another way food insecurity was measured, food insecurity by race and ethnicity, shows how food insecurity has affected Black, Hispanic, and White households with children. First, low-income Black households with children had the highest food insecurity among low-income households. Second, there was almost no change for low-income Hispanic households with children. Third, low-income White households with children experienced the highest increase in all three indices, extent, depth, and severity of food insecurity. The findings of the study show that low-income non Hispanic Black households, both with and without children, are the most disadvantaged and is growing worse. Hispanic low-income households haven't experienced much change, and on the other hand low-income White households have increased the most across all measures of food insecurity over the past decade. The article suggests a reason for the findings, and it could be due to employment of people of different race and ethnicity in the Great Recession and during the recovery of it. For example, during the Great Recession and during the recovery, employment level for Hispanics increased by about four percent. For Blacks and Whites, employment levels remained about five percent under the levels from the beginning of the recession.

The article, Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness by Barrett A. Lee, revisits the contact theory which entails that contact between an in-group with a certain out-group will improve the attitude of an in-group's ignorant knowledge of the out-group and disconfirm stereotypes of the out-group. In the new study, the research addresses three areas that were absent in the literature of the contact hypothesis. In this study the homeless are the out-group, and the goal of the study is to find how contact with homeless people affect the attitudes of in-group people. The methods used to test the hypothesis, were collected from a national telephone survey that was fielded in 1990 by Columbia University researchers. More than two hundred metropolitan and nonmetropolitan phone exchanges in the United States occurred. They were occupied households, and there was one adult per sampled household. Also, each adult was offered a ten dollar incentive to participate in an average forty minute interview. 1,507 interviews were completed by the investigators. Nine specific multi-item scales and an overall attitude scale are treated as the dependent variables. The first four scales is what we call the cognitive-rational dimension. The cognitive-rational dimension goes over the perceived causes of homelessness and the perceived characteristics of homeless people. There is both positive and negative attitudes that include the in-group blaming the economy being a positive attitude, and blaming the individual being the negative attitude. The next three attitude scales have the respondents describe their feelings about homelessness. Positive emotions would include expressing sadness for the homeless, and negative emotions would be the respondent becoming angry and complaining about the number of homeless in society. The other two scales measure the respondent's policy views. This entails if the respondent feels that it is acceptable for the homeless to beg, tent, or sleep in public places. The independent variables in the study were the fourteen exposure measures that are described in Table 1 in the article. They are Television shows, Articles, Conversation, Neighborhood, Week, Positive behavior, Negative behavior, Shelter, Panhandling, Positive contact, Acquaintance, Ever homeless, Homeless kin, and Homeless friend. The fourteen exposure measures are combined into four dimensions of exposure which are Information, Observation, Interaction, and Membership. From the study, it was found that the more exposure to homelessness, the more supportive someone will be. The data explains fairly well how White people responded to homelessness, but the exception of the study was how Black people responded to homelessness. In Table 2 it shows that when a person has more exposure to homelessness, then it caused them to have negative attitudes toward the homeless. The study found that people with less exposure and a lot of exposure to homelessness have more negative attitudes toward homelessness, and people with some exposure had positive attitudes toward homelessness.

SOC111 MW 1p-2:50p

Jesse McClurkin

04/08/2018

SOC111

Homelessness Quiz

The articles which I have chosen to analyze are "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity." by Balistreri, as well as "Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness" by Lee, Farrell, and Link.  For Balistreri's research, the author wished to track how much food insecurity had changed over a fixed amount of time, and also seeks to explain why, even after the recession of 2008, the food insecurity did not decrease even though people should have had more money to spend on food, in theory.  The aforementioned ranges in time to be studied were the years 2001-2003, 06'-08',, and finally 11'-13'. I'd imagine these years were chosen because that is the frame which the statistical data was taken in order to know the economic standing of Black, White, and Hispanic families and what affect the recession had on them.  By tracking how much money each group had and subsequently loss it could help to pinpoint whether their financial hardship was the sole cause of these groups not having sufficient food in their homes. They found that, black homes, with or without them having kids, were doing considerably worse than their white counterparts even though the drop-off of food insecurity was steeper for whites during the recession.  Just goes to show the disadvantage that blacks were working with from the beginning. The article by Lee et al. was focused on seeing how people's interaction with homeless people would affect their opinions. The methods they used was gathering participants through phone surveys, they then used answers from the survey to determine who they would further expose to homelessness and gauge their reactions. The results yielded were that people who had more exposure showed more understanding to their homeless counterparts.  Basically more exposure meant participants were more likely to put themselves in the shoes of the homeless before making judgements. Even though types of exposure did push results in different directions at times, the overall result showed that homeless exposure made people more empathetic. If one were to combine the results of these two studies they may find that one group of society has more of a softer side toward the homeless than the other, namely the people who find themselves more toward the level of the homeless.

Works Cited

Balistreri, K. (2016). A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 37(3), 373-382.

Lee, B., Farrell, C., & Link, B. (2004). Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness. American Sociological Review, 69(1), 40-63.

Grace Salas

Grace Salas, 521 Words

In 1990, Lee, Farrell, and Link decided to form a study about the homeless community, but they needed to know how their participants would respond by either having a positive or negative attitude (dependent variable) based on the amount of exposure (independent variable) they have had. In all, there are nine dependent variables and fourteen independent variables. The total number of participants was 1,388 adults who were randomly telephoned by the researchers. The two races who held negative attitudes was black and Hispanic participants, but blacks happened to live their lives around the homeless more often. The results further showed participants expressing sympathy and acceptance to individuals who they know to be homeless, but those who were once homeless, do not. Participants who form a strong ugly opinion about the homeless tend to due so through conversation than any other way. The opinion aided participants expressed an insufficient amount of empathy. Participants who identify themselves as liberal in politics and the highly educated, sympathize the homeless. The results acknowledged how participants who are frequently confronted by a homeless person tend to reject them.

Kelly S. Balistreri conducted a study after 2013 to view how the 2008 recession affected individual's food insecurity. The collecting of data started in 2001 and finished in 2013 to obtain detailed and accurate results of the 2008 recession. However, no data was collected between the years of 2004, 2005, 2009, and 2010. The dependent variable was the collected responses from participants who admit their food insecurity, but their number of responses to the questions are categorized as either low or very low food insecurity. While the independent variable is of participants who have or do not have children, their race and income. The adult's response to food insecurity questions were categorized two specific ways. Any one question that was marked yes with a total of 8 out of 18 or 6 out of 10, resulted in very low nutrients. To be considered low, there needs to be 3 out of 18. There are similar results regarding food insecurity of low to very low. Surprisingly, the results explain how parents of the white race, whose income does not fit the recommended amount, have food insecurity in both categories of the dependent variable. The same result was that of white participants who are not parents. However, Balistreri's findings showed black participants who are not parents struggle to find their next meals to maintain a healthy diet.

Lee, Farrell, and Link's study and Balistreri's study is different due to what the focus was and how the studies were structured. However, the two studies are similar by both showing a form of lack either in regards to the homeless or a lack in food. Another similarity is how participants are chosen as a sample. A difference is in the results regarding race in both studies. Lee, Farrell, and Link found out that their black participants are the ones who do not feel sorry for the homeless while Balistreri found how white individuals who participated in her study, did not have enough nutrition due to the effects of the 2018 recession.



Works Cited

Balistreri, Kelly. "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food

Insecurity." Journal of Family and Economic Issues, vol. 37, no. 3, 2016, pp. 373-382.

Lee, Barrett A., Farrell, Chad R., & Link, Bruce G. "Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The

Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness." American Sociological Review, vol. 69, no.

1, 2004, pp. 40-63.

Lorena Andrade homeless essay

Lorena Andrade

Word Count: 523

Homelessness

In the article, A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of food Insecurity, by Kelly Stamper Balistreri, it mentions how the United States suffers a great amount of hunger and poverty. At the beginning of the article it was addressed how there was a significant difference between hungriness between Whites and those of a colored race. The White race has somewhere between 12% and 16% less uncertainty of food, or of where food will come next. In addition, two factors that go hand in hand, and for the most part, one causes the other is having no food and poor health conditions.  Having no food causes to be in poor health conditions. There was a project that was conducted about 3 times and it took about 3 years every trail, and the goal was to see how fast SNAP recipients finished their food, and how long it took for them to be able to have more. The project was mainly targeted to those recipients that claimed to be a low-income family. Also, there was two different groups, one with children and the other without. It checked on how recipients would react/ do when they no longer had money or SNAP to buy more food. The results for this project was that African Americans with children, were the most uncertain when they no longer had food, meaning that between the three trials there wasn't much change. For the Whites, with children, the three trials ranged between 30.6, 33.3, and 36.4, not a massive change. In addition, for Hispanics, with children, there was a big difference either. On the other hand, for those African Americans without children, they were at a higher disadvantage for not getting many recourses. The three ethnicities, without children, were much at less than those with children, but again between the three trials they were pretty stable. Over all there was a massive difference between those who lacked of food with or without having children, but based on their category didn't have much changed between the trials.

The second article was Understanding Food Insecurity Among Latino Immigrant Families in Rural American, by Yoshie Sano and colleagues. The methods used in this article were mainly Latino immigrants who were also a part of the Rural Families Speak project. They took a sample of these members from about 17 different states from the United States. Some of the members were second generation in the US and others were first generation. One of the goals from this project was to be able to know the obstacles these families face. A finding was that members of the project who had a lower monthly income had more of a struggle to have food. While those others that still were low income families but had a higher income didn't have the same struggle. One factor that caused this was the cost of housing. Some paid more than others and it was a great difference. Lastly, another factor was the families' immigration status. This was very important because without legal status here it became difficult for them to have a job and provide food.

Alonzo Cason Poverty Homelessness Food Insecurity

Alonzo Cason

518 words

 

 

            This week's topic covered and focused on poverty, food insecurity, and homelessness, it's a topic that's not really talked about or one that generates a lot of class discussions. But, as with all the past weekly topics it's an issue that deserves to be addressed. In my case, it's hard to understand the connection each issue has but after reading the weekly articles and taking the time to think about and discuss it with the class I started to see the connections. For majority of us, the issue of poverty continues to be one and will always be for as long as society remains, but that's getting off the point the clear focus was on that of food and homelessness and each play a significant role in the core issues they have. As with all the assignments we were required to read one from the required list and one of own choosing. The first article I read was the required one of "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" by Kelly Stamper Balisteri, the article presented key numerical evidence and data highlighting the rates of food insecurity. The article focused on household ethnicity to help distinguish the findings they discovered which that non-white houses with or without kids had lower rates of low food while black households were the ones at the disadvantage; being that they're more likely to lack food. Later, the article, discussed some of the factors in and effects low food has on people highlighting millions of households in the U.S. experience food shortages which in turn shows the rising issue of people not eating the proper amount of food for daily needs and issues of food eating patterns. A while ago, in class we had a discussion where Prof. Kubal briefly mention the "poverty cycle" which is a vicious cycle that people in poverty face. They make little money and are forced to seek out and consume food products that can fill them and that they can afford. That forces them to consume high amounts of fast food which in turn takes a huge toll on their health which in turn causes major health issues which leads to more debt and the cycle continues. It's a sad reality that impacts the less fortunate of the U.S. citizens that brief discussion helped me to my personal article on Huffington Post titled "How Bad is Homeless" by Daniel Neiditch. Unlike the required article this one looked at homelessness and the effects that food insecurity has on that issue. The article speaks about how the cycle is something they live through for years on years and in some cases, they're the product of it. I understand that sounds strange but in the article, it highlights that people of homelessness are forced to seek out any food that they can afford which is the exact same as most citizens that suffer from food insecurity. This topic was definitely one that most people like myself wouldn't understand in first glance but it's a topic and issue that does deserve an adequate spotlight and one that people should discuss rather than just dismiss it as a byproduct of our society.

Celitha Edwards (Homelessness Quiz)

Homelessness

The article "Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness" highlights the findings of a national survey conducted in 1990 (Lee,Farrell,Link 2004). Researchers set out to exam contact hypothesis, as it relates to the relationship between domiciled and homeless people. In the social sciences, Contact Theory is the concept that face to face interaction between 2 opposing groups is the most adequate way to address hostilities between the in and out groups (Lee et al. 2004) This research was geared towards finding trends in the public opinion of the domiciled on the homeless. This study was different in its approach to the subject. Instead of only considering face to face interactions, researchers expanded the contact theory to include any and all forms of interaction between different groups (Lee et al. 2004).

The stereotypes of homeless people attribute to the severe disconnect in humanity. This study shows that domiciled people that believe homelessness is caused by an apathetic attitude and self-loathing, are not likely to be sympathetic to the homeless (Lee et al. 2004).  Therefore, they are unwilling to understand the struggle of each individual, instead they view their behavior as a n exhibition of their true self. Domiciled people who blame the structure of society for birthing and nurturing poverty in America, are more likely to feel sympathy for the homeless (Lee et al. 2004).

However, overexposure to homelessness can change these sympathetic views.  People will begin to avoid situations where contact with a homeless person is predicted or more likely to occur (Lee et al. 2004). The researchers used the example of a store owner that takes up issue with the homeless loitering in front of their business. The very presence of homeless people has become a nuisance.

The article "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" looks at the data collected over time from numerous Current Population Surveys (Balistreri 2016). These researchers compared the food insecurity data from the pre and post-recession era. Research shows that low-income families with children are at the highest risk to suffer from food insecurity (Balistreri 2016). Income and race are contributing factors to food insecurity. Though low income homes experience food insecurity at a higher rate than the rest of the population, there is a difference based on their race. Low income blacks, despite the presence of children are more likely that low income white households to experience food insecurity (Balistreri 2016). One program in place to circumvent the issue of food insecurity in low income homes is SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The researchers make the argument that SNAP should be protected against any legislation threatening to take it away (Balistreri 2016).  

 

 

 

Yvonne Damian

Lee, B., Farrell, C., & Link, B. (2004). Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness. American Sociological Review, 69(1), 40-63.

Yvonne Damian word count:598

This article studied the pertinence of Contact Theory between the racial group the person views as being associated with and other racial group they are being exposed. The study used three methods in addition to prior methods, such as:  In addition to examining face-to-face exposure they examined many types of in-groups exposed to the out-group, labeled bad.  The other method used, examined different attitudes and outcomes.  And thirdly, mixing community settings anticipating future lowered racism.  All research discovered exposure showed changed attitudes in favorable directions as anticipated.  Also, their primary study measured the homeless growing population size, media exposure of their unfortunate situations, and policy treatment; thus developing moments of exposure and affecting viewpoints indirectly. This suggests Contact Hypothesis expanded exposure had success in changing stigmatisms rather than narrowed versions.  Expansions allowed knowledge about other racial groups replacing ignorance, which creates stereotypes and fear. The method used was quantitative analysis which 1500 random people completed telephone survey, nationally representative of the U.S.  The dependent variable was attitudes about homelessness[yD1] .  The study examined why people had positive attitudes about homelessness and others had more negative attitudes.  The main independent variable studied exposure to the homeless population and demographics in relativism about homelessness.  They used fourteen exposure measures relating to interaction and information about homelessness.  They examined blaming the homeless vs. society and who viewed them as dangerous and lazy. Results showed exposure, demographics, observation, interaction, and membership (if they, themselves were ever homeless); these measures shaped the attitudes about homelessness.  Overexposure influenced a negative attitude toward homelessness and people with low exposure reflected same negative attitude.  African American's had the most exposure so the contact theory only worked on white population. AA were overexposed to homelessness and developed a negative attitude whereas, whites had a more positive result.  

 

Balistreri, K. (2016). A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 37(3), 373-382.

Since the recession of 2008 food insecurity hasn't changed even though the economy has improved.  The study (independent variable) measured the severity and depth of food insecurity within the ethnicity and races which are low-income, with, or without children.  Finding's showed severity and depth rapidly increased in households without children.  Also, non-Hispanic White household's w/o children had steeper increased depth and severity of food insecurity across ten years, yet had a lower prevalence rate.  Lastly, non-Hispanic Black units with or w/o children were most underprivileged in low income areas.  Factors that influence unchanged food insecurity are unemployment rate, spike in food prices, and other goods, necessities, and services.  This changed who is experiencing higher prevalence, depth, of food insecurity.  Stating Hispanic and Blacks were affected more than Whites in the Great Recession by losing a greater percentage of wealth. The dependent variable were factors influencing and sustaining food insecurity despite improving economy ie, loss of job and fluctuating income. Food insecurity has been linked with poor quality of life, decreased levels of physical health, and different health diseases such as diabetes and hypertension in adults. Children's health had poor prognosis for anemia, asthma, and linked with cognitive and academic development delays; behavioral, anxiety, and aggression are increased.  The method used was a random 3-time period (2001-3, 2006-8, 2011-13) evaluated early 2000, time around the recession, and time after recession from The Current Population Survey (CPS) Food Security Supplement (FSS).  To ensure household were used once adjacent years were used.  The study concluded U.S families never improved economically since The Great Recession.  Food insecurity never returned to pre-2008 because of inflation and elevated food pricing.  It's important to acknowledge 1 million childless adults are likely to stop receiving SNAP benefits, which reduces U.S food insecurity; yet states are returning to 3-month limit.      

Elizabeth Bautista Homelessness

Elizabeth Bautista

468 words

April 5, 2018

 

Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness;

 

            The Revisiting the contact hypothesis: The case of public exposure to homelessness article focuses on finding how the exposure to homeless people have an indirect influence on a person's attitude. The authors collected their data from a national telephone survey done in 1990 by Columbia University. The multistage probability was used to choose more than 200 phone numbers in the continental United States. A ten-dollar incentive was given to those adults who participated in the interview that lasted about 40 minutes. There was 1,507 interviews completed by the investigators, 65 percent where English speakers and 63 percent where non-English speakers. They focused on nine multi-item scales, and considered them as the dependent variable; the four scale assess, the three-item individual causes scale, the role competence scale, and  three attitude scales. The exposure to homeless was considered to be the independent variable. The results of the survey show that those who are exposed more to homelessness are more likely say that homelessness is caused by structural causes and are less likely to believe in individual causes. Respondents also tended to see the homeless people as competent and non-threatening. The exposure to homeless can develop positive attitudes. Those who are also exposed to the homelessness are more likely to fight for the rights of the homeless. The results also show that age, education and political views also have an influence on attitudes toward the homeless. The older generations have less sympathy for homeless people and those with education and liberalism have a higher sympathy. Another factor that influences attitudes are the minority status. Hispanics and African Americans are less likely to feel sympathy for homeless than whites. Hispanics are less likely to support homeless rights or help them out. In conclusion the exposure to homelessness doesn't give a very positive attitude toward the homeless.

 

 

Food Insecurity Is Associated with Increased Risk of Obesity in California Women

The article focuses on how the limitation and unavailability of healthy food is connected with food insecurity and obesity in California women. The data was collected from an evaluation done in 1998 and 1999 California Women's Health Survey. The sample size of the survey was 8,169 women, older than the age of 18. The random sample was interviewed by telephone and where asked four questions from the U.S Household Food Security Module in English and in Spanish depending on their preference. In 1998 only, 70 percent responded and 81 percent in 1999.  The article also wanted to see the correlation between food insecurity and obesity with income, race, education, country of birth and health status. The results showed that 13.9 percent of women were food insecure and 4.3 percent had food insecurity with hunger. Non- Hispanic White women who were food insecure without hunger where 36 percent. Women who were food insecure without hunger were more likely to be obese than those who were food secure. 

Aaron Freitas Homeless/hunger quiz

 

The first article I will discus is "The 'Homeless Problem' and the Double Consciousness" by Jason Adam Wasserman, Jeffrey Michael Clair and Chelsea Platt. This article delves into how society perceives people who are homeless and how that effects the way the homeless individuals perceive themselves.

The authors collected their information through personal interviews and conversations with homeless people. The point of the interviews was to identify how the homeless individuals see themselves through the lens of American society.  The authors wanted to know if W.E.B. DuBois's theory of a double-consciousness could also include other groups of disenfranchised people. The double-consciousness theory is the idea that an individual will see and judge themselves by an outside standard not set by their own group or themselves. Usually, this standard is a negative belief held by a dominant social class about a subordinate social class. 

What the authors found was that homeless people often hold negative ideas about themselves that match up with what society believes about them. These things include the ideas that the homeless are lazy, have substance abuse problems, mental heath issues and are homeless due to their own personal failings. Often the authors would report that the people interviewed would claim that they wanted to work but that other homeless people didn't or that they could choose to stop being homeless if they wanted to. These beliefs mirror the commonly held beliefs of American society about the homeless. It is also of note that almost every homeless person was also very patriotic, holding no negative beliefs about America or its policies.

In conclusion, the authors believe that as a society we must combat negative views about the homeless, not only in society, but with special attention to the homeless individual themselves. To begin to solve what has been called "the homeless problem" we first must get rid of the idea that the problem lies with the homeless person. This would be to the benefit of both society and the individual. 

The second article is titled "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" By Kelly Stamper Balistreri. The study in this article aimed to evaluate how food insecurities have changed over the last decade, from 2001 to 2013.

The date range used came from two different surveys conducted on food insecurities over a span of multiple years. The data showed both expected and unexpected result with regards to food insecurity among Americans. As expected food insecurities rose greatly across the board from 2006-2008 during the Great Recession. What was less expected was that the rates of food insecurity among Americans has not gone back to the levels seen before the Great Recession, even though the economy has largely recovered. One reason for this is the cost of food has steadily risen whereas wages have stayed the same. The study also found that low-income families with children are the most likely to have food insecurities and black low-income families have the highest prevalence of food insecurities with little change over the time span evaluated. Low-income Hispanic families however showed little change in the prevalence of food insecurities, but for the families that did have food insecurity, the severity went up 5-12%. White low-income families showed the most rapid increase in food insecurity during this time span. In conclusion, food insecurity overall in the United States has continued to climb across all low-income peoples.   

Crystal Medrano

                                                                                                          Crystal Medrano

                                                                                                                    596 Words

A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity

The study used three indices from FGT measures, food insecurity rate, food insecurity gap, and squared food insecurity gap, that would help examine patterns of food insecurity by race and ethnicity and among low income families with or without children that were placed below 185% of the poverty line, between 2001 and 2013. Data from 2001-2003, 2006-2008 and 2011-2013 was gathered from the CPS Food Security Supplement because of the major events happening around the recession.  Within the years analyzed, there were about 263, 779 White, Black and Hispanic households examined. To measure food security, an 18-item household food security scale was used to measure 12-month frames and the severity of food insecurity. Questions focused on concerns about lack of food, availability of money, and children having access to food. Also, FII and Rasch scoring method, was used to understand how food insecure a household was.

            Patterns of food security reported between 2006 and 2008, showed households with children made no recovery from having low food security due to low incomes and earnings. It was seen that the severity of food insecurity with households without children increased greatly through the decade. Also, large increases were shown among the three indices measured. By race, Blacks with children, showed a major increase and highest, in having severe food insecurity and were the most underprivileged. In comparison to Hispanics having an increase of 5% to 12% food insecurity, Whites with children underwent very severe food insecurity. Hispanics had less food insecurity because their employment increased when the recession started. Therefore, the FGT measure found that those under the poverty threshold became more food insecure through the three-year points examined.

Does Acculturation Matter? Food Insecurity and Child Problem Behavior among low income working Hispanic Households

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between acculturation levels, food security standing and perceptions of health and behavioral outcomes of children within low income Hispanic and White families. English speaking and Spanish speaking households were compared with white low-income households. Data came from a study on the Rhode Island Food Stamp Program and 339 household participants were gathered from the RI Department of Human Services. The process of gathering participants was by sending an informative letter and then contacted by certified UC of Rhode Island Research Center interviewers to ask if they were willing to participate, as well as conduct a phone survey. About 97% of participants were female and aged around 31 years old. Spanish speakers were given Spanish surveys and since language use was being measured, they were less acculturated. Participant received $10 for grocery shopping as compensation. The survey questions asked and assessed the households' demographics, household income, food security, hunger status, food access and selection, child health satisfaction, behavioral concerns and target child in the home that was getting child care aid.  

            Results reported that there was a significant relationship between acculturation and food security. First, it was found that Spanish-speaking Hispanics were more prone to be food insecure with/without hunger, due to their socioeconomic disadvantage, than the other two groups. English speaking Hispanics were more food secured and Whites reported getting help from friends and family with accessing food. With food access and selection, all groups reported to buying fresh food, but Spanish speaking Hispanics tended to travel to further supermarkets and were more prone to buying fresh vegetables. With child health and outcomes, white households reported having children with learning and behavioral problems a lot more than the two Hispanic groups. Spanish speaking Hispanics were less satisfied with their target child's health and had many concerns about chronic illness due to income, access to health care and acculturation level.  

Bounmy Xiong

Bounmy Xiong-533 words

Soc 111

MW- 1PM

Food insecurity is an effect for many families today that have children and for those who don't have children. The price for food is rising and becoming more expensive today and sometimes it is hard to afford things at the grocery stores. Even though, there is government help such as SNAP, it is still on the rise for many families. During the recession, there was a limit for low-income individuals. Even though other race and ethnic minorities are supported by SNAP, it seems to be more represented by them because they are usually sometimes unemployed, and it would be a disadvantage for them if they did not have help from the government if they cannot financially support themselves. When comparing food insecurity to whites and other ethnic minorities, whites tend to have a lower percentage compare to them where the percentage was much higher. Food insecurity can have an effect on children such as having a delayed academic and cognitive development and they are more likely to have anxiety and aggression problems. The methods in this article is data from the current population survey (CPS) and food security supplement (FSS). The data used is three different time points and how it has changed throughout the years. FSS is used for a household observation that went on for two years and they would ask whether there was enough money to buy food for the house. The results to this article was that it was only limited to low-income housing and about 6.8% were below the federal poverty line. Even though food prices are going up, inflation is on the rise as well and as it continues to rise it will affect families. According the FGT, the low-income household that fell beyond the food secure threshold was considered to fall deeper into food insecurity.

            The next article talks about the contact hypothesis which is thought as an optimal circumstance. Racial and ethnic minorities are considered as an out of group choice when it comes to research. One of the deficiency talks about in-group and out-group and how back then research used to be face-to-face and for the out-group it was observations or conversations within family or relatives. An out-group would consider the homeless people because when they share with others they are automatically labeled, and they tend to suffer more due to their identity and will eventually face reject from people who consider themselves as a "normal" person. According to Goffman's notion of stigma, a person who is characterized as being in a stigmatized group are more likely to stereotype and feel less sympathetic towards homeless people. Exposure is split into four different categories and each category talk about the impression people have on homeless, media coverage, everyday life observation and meeting a homeless person. The methods in the article is data from a nation telephone survey. The primary issue is causal direction such as individuals who limit their exposure to avoid homeless people. Another one is avoidance and whether people change where they shop and if they have a negative attitude about it. The results of it showed that exposure plays a role in attitudes towards the homeless people regarding what the situation is.

Bounmy Xiong 

Khou Yang Soc 111 MW 1PM

Khou Yang, 519 words

Soc 111

MW 1PM

In the first article, it talks about how food insecurity has an effect on households with or without children. In the introduction, it starts off talking about how the price of food is rising and becoming more expensive. A program called SNAP helps those who are low-income family and many families are still struggling even with help. Back in the day, there was a limit for an individual. Food insecurity also makes an impact to different ethnic groups who is supported by SNAP. Ethnic groups tend to be the one who relies on SNAP because of unemployment or not being able to support themselves financially. Of course, whites tend to have a lower percentage for food insecurity since they are able to support themselves financially. Food insecurity can also have an effect on children as well such as the development as they grow up. The methods in this article is data from the current population survey (CPS) and Food Security Supplement (FSS). The data includes different time points and how it has changed throughout the years. FSS is used as a household observation for two years and ask questions about whether there is enough money to buy food for the house. Blacks with or without children is worse for food insecurity because they tend to struggle. According to FGT, the household that fell beyond the food secure threshold will fall deeper into food insecurity. The results show that about 6.8%-185% said that they were below the federal poverty line. Low-income household who had no children tend to have less food insecurity compared to those who have children. Due to the price of food rising, inflation goes up as well and eventually food insecurity occurs more.

            In the second article, it talks about the contact hypothesis and how it is thought as an optimal circumstance. Racial and ethnic minorities are considered as an out of group choice when it comes to research. One of the deficiency is in-group and out-group and how it used to be face-to-face and for out group it was observations or conversations within relatives or family. An out-group is the homeless people because they aren't able to share much with other people because they would be labeled and suffer more due to their identity. Once they are known as someone who lives on the streets, they will face rejection from people who considered themselves as "normal." Even if they try to share with others, the viewpoint of how others see it would be negative instead of positive. Those who are willing to help out will have a more positive mind towards them and try to do what they can to help them. According to Goffman's notion of stigma, someone who characterize them as a stigmatized group are likely to stereotype and are highly stigmatized. The methods in this article is a national telephone survey and it was one adult per household. Each adult was offered $10 if they did the survey. The results of this shows that exposure plays a role when a person runs into a homeless person and how they would handle the situation.

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Khou Yang

homelessness quiz resubmit

Jessica Helm, 457 words

            The two articles Relationship Among Respondent Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Homeless Status on a Homeless Population's Functional Status and Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness both examine aspects of homelessness. Including public opinion about homelessness and factors surrounding the homeless themselves. Impacts of homeless on society and the homeless' people themselves.

            The article Relationship Among Respondent Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Homeless Status on a Homeless Population's Functional Status examines the correlation of ethnicity and the homeless' functional status. The study was conducted in Los Angeles county on 394 homeless, within those 394 participants more than one-third of them claimed to be on or use drugs at the time of the interview. This study used the Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale to measure functional impairment on the homeless, which they measured by the subscales: Relation to Self and Others, Depression–Anxiety, Daily Living Skills, Impulsive– Addictive Behavior, and Psychosis. The study found that White and African American did poorer than Native Americans and Latinos, on the BASIS subscales relation to self and others, depression-anxiety, and daily living skills. Another finding was that the degree of homelessness affects the depression-anxiety scale, in which people with acute homelessness showed higher signs than people who were chronically homeless.

            The contact hypothesis indicates that the amount of contact between the member's pf an in-group and an out-group can positively change the stereotypical attitudes towards the outside from the in-group which is examined in the article Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness. The amount of time spent with a certain group can lower prejudice against said group. The study determined that overall exposure to homeless people affected people's opinions/views in a positive manner. Exposure also positively affected people's willingness to get involved and support policy about homelessness. They also found that the age of the participant, impacted the amount of sympathy towards the homeless, with older age comes a decrease in sympathy for the homeless. African Americans and Hispanics were less likely to hold empathy for the homeless. 

            Both articles touch on aspects of homelessness, however they deal with different areas and do not leave much for comparison. Nonetheless, the article Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness could examine racial impacts of biased towards the homeless. When look at racism as impact or factor, you can possibly determine the personal threat level felt towards homeless in relation to race and ethnicity.  Relationship Among Respondent Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Homeless Status on a Homeless Population's Functional Status hold criticism due to the fact that the participants were under the influence at the time on the interview, which could of possibly affect the outcome of the surveys.

Homeless/Food Quiz

Alma Garcia, 557 words

            "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" by Kelly Stamper Balistreri states the research of food insecurity by their race, among low-income households who have children and the ones who don't. Food insecurity has been rising more and more in the US. Food insecurity is not being able to have much access to food. Over 6.9 million households in the US have very low food security. Even though the rates of employment had been rising in the year of 2008 there is another factor that plays into the role of food insecurity. Since employment went up so did food prices. This article also states that another reason that there is still insecurity in the US is because of the collapse of housing prices. This also played a big role in food insecurity. During the recession there was a hike in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rising from 8.5% of the population in 2008 to 15% in 2013. Since there was a high increase of people needing assistance many individuals were limited to this service which were mainly adults without kids. In 2014 about 10.5% White household's food insecure, but the higher numbers came from Blacks with 26.1% and Hispanics with 22.4%. Food insecurity has long term consequences for children and adult's well-being. It has been related to lower adult's general physical health as well as of poor health outcomes such as diabetes and hypertension. The studies also show that among children it affects their general health as well as them getting anemia and asthma. The methods used for this research was the current population survey (CPS) and the Food Security Supplement (FSS). This was done for many years. There was three points chosen for this study which were 2001 to 2003, 2006-2008, and 2011-2013. These times were used to see the changes during the recession and the post-recession. The implications of this research study states that any cuts to SNAP funding may have a huge impact on low-income households.

            "Understanding Food Insecurity Among Latino Immigrant Families in Rural America" states how low-income Latino immigrant families either succeeded or failed to meet their food needs. The reason for this study is to understand why some Latino immigrant's families are constantly successful in meeting their food needs and some aren't. Using a case study approach, ten families were selected to represent food secure and food insecure groups. Maintaining food security was very tough and complicated for families. Over 13 million U.S. households are food insecure which were categorized as having low food security or very low food security. One-in-five U.S. children live in a food insecure household. Even though Latino immigrants have been contributing billions of dollars to rural communities as laborers and consumers their presence may stress the local resources and may be unable to meet their basic needs. These families participated in this study from four different states which were California, Michigan, Oregon, and Iowa. California's participants were mainly second generation, Michigan's were mainly migrant workers, and Oregon's and Iowa's participants were "semi-settled" residents who migrated to the U.S. in the past 20 years. Many mothers were recruited through community organizations such as WIC or head start. The research suggests that an effective way to ensure food security may be to strengthen their basic literacy skills and life skills such as knowledge of basic nutrition, health practices, and family planning. The root of the issue may also be because they are lacking in English fluency. 

Alline Wright SOC 111 582 words

         

The article "Revisiting the Contact Hypothesis: The Case of Public Exposure to Homelessness" used researchers' 1990 national telephone survey to find a survey sample of 1,388 individuals to conduct interviews for ten dollars each. The dependent variables of the interview were nine scales assessing the interviewees' attitudes on homelessness: structural causes, individual causes, role competency, dangerousness, positive emotions, lack of empathy, community burden, support of rights and willingness to sacrifice. The independent variables were 14 exposure types comprised into four dimensions, which transformed into the overall exposure scale. Race, income, employment status, age, sex and education were all controlled variables. The goal was to see how the measures of exposure affected attitudes towards the homeless differently. The overall exposure resulted in strongly influencing attitudes about homeless people in a positive way, which supports the simplified contact hypothesis. The more exposure the respondent had resulted in lower amounts of attributing homelessness to individual causes and increased willingness to make sacrifices to support homeless people. Older aged respondents and minorities were less supportive and sympathetic towards the homeless. Because many minority citizens live in areas that have a high homeless population, their exposure is greater than their white counterparts, resulting in more Hispanics' with non-supportive attitudes. Voluntary exposure, like television, can be less impactful than involuntary, like having a homeless family member, but each dimension reveals greater sympathy for homeless people. Personally overcoming homelessness was not a significant factor increasing positive attitudes towards the homeless. One in ten respondents admitted to avoidance mechanisms, like using alternative public transportation to ensure a homeless-free route. Increased avoidance did not support the hypothesis because it correlated with higher exposure levels. This was explained by the concept that when too extreme, exposure can increase a dislike for the out-group, whom are the homeless.  Lastly, African Americans were more likely than women and elder interviewees to interact and be exposed to homeless people.

            The next article, "The Impact of Slavery on Racial Inequality in Poverty in the Contemporary U.S. South," uses county-level data from the 2000 U.S. Census and population data from the 1860 U.S. Census for the U.S. South, excluding Oklahoma. The poverty threshold calculated based on a four person family was 33,000 to $64,000. Some Southern counties varied in geographic location from the 1860 data set to contemporary counties, but it was critical to keep spatial consistency by adding a .25 weight, evenly distributing a quarter of 1860's slave population data among the contemporary data set.  One limitation is that slaves used to be bulkily populated around rural plantations, so the displacement of slave populations could cause skewed results. Least squares regression model and spatial data analysis tools demonstrated how the legacy of slavery correlated with poverty in racial inequality. The final model only used the variables that related to the slave legacy, which was measured by dividing the number of slaves in 1860 data by the total 1860 population. The independent variable poverty covariates in the final model were the proportion black, proportion of blacks squared, homeownership, agriculture, manufacturing, FIRE, single-mother families, and middleclass. A counties' structural factors were accounted for the surrounding levels of racial inequality throughout the South.  Middle class income and the number of agricultural-based employees did not conform to expectations. Counties with a higher proportion of these variables resulted in greater racial inequality. The black proportion of a county is positive and vitally related to black disadvantage, but is a separated concept from the 1860 slave concentrations because racial threat was found to be insignificant.  Overall, Southern counties that had a stronger connection to slavery showed disproportionately higher racially unequal poverty rates than counties that were loosely connected to the slave population.

Parinav Kanwar

                                                                              

                                                                                  Parinav Kanwar  382  words

A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity

This research focused on measuring the effect of the food insecurity among various groups in United states. The data was obtained from current population survey in Food Security Supplement during 2001 to 2003, 2006-2008 and 2011-2013. A food security scale by USDA was used to gather data and then normalized to Food Insecurity Index. The results indicated higher food insecurity among households with children than without children. A rapid increase in food insecurity among in low income households without children. It was also found that low income black households children had higher food insecurity while also had high depth and severity. White household children had higher depth and severity of food security than Hispanic households. Black children who had no children had an increased disadvantage. The results could be due to differences in race and ethnic variation in recovery since great recession.

Understanding Food Insecurity Among Latino Immigrant Families in Rural America

This study sampled Latino immigrant mothers from Rural Families Speak project. Latino women were from California, Michigan and Oregon and Iowa, who were at least 18 years of age and below federal poverty line.  The collected data from project was analyzed using grounded theory and second stage utilized coding scheme while the third phase used methodology of Miles and Huberman to identify family experiences pattern. The results indicated that food secure families had good health as well as essential life skills, knowledge of community resources and husbands with table employment as compared to food insecure families. Also, food insecure families had low literacy levels which impacted other aspects in their life. This group also received poor support from family and friends than food secure families. The results can be explained through ecological theory, which indicated that food insecurity was the results of factors and in reaction from ecological levels such as income etc. Food security is complicated tasking to achieve has many factors involved.

Both of these articles focused on food insecurity while the purpose of the first study was to discuss food insecurity and its relationship with children and income level in various racial groups such as white, Hispanic and blacks. Second study was more focused on one particular group Latino families but explored many effects of food insecurity on families. Although both studies provide a better insight into the issues of food insecurity presence in many racial groups. 

Ashley Meneses

The first article I read was Monitoring Perceptions of the Causes of Poverty in South Africa. In this article they found that South Africans mainly had three views towards the cause of poverty in their country. The first being individualistic explanations, essentially blaming solely the person, structural explanation, believing that there are social and economical factors that play a factor, and fatalistic explanations, meaning that the cause of poverty is an individual's bad luck or illness they may have. In order to find the most viewed perception they made a survey of mainly agree/disagree answers to a total of 3,498 random South Africans. Within this survey they made sure to take into account all of the different demographics that makes each participant unique, such as their race, gender, age, income, and much more. After receiving all of the results many statistical measures were taken to see if there was a correlation between any demographic and a certain perception towards the cause of poverty. One thing that was found was that whites didn't have to struggle to maintain basic necessities of life compared to the other races. Also that there wasn't even a race that voted a majority in a certain mindset, instead all of the answers varied even within a race group. By looking over all of the answers they found that there really wasn't an impact of demographics on a person's perception.

The second article that I chose to read was called, "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth, and Severity of Food Insecurity". Since the year 2000 and especially after the Great Recession in 2008 food insecurity has been raising. Food insecurity is the inability to maintain sufficient amounts of food within a household, and with that they found that black households have the biggest disadvantage regarding income which hinders the ability to have access to enough food. Many things are tied together with the issue of food insecurity, if a household has low income that leads to food insecurity and with that they members of the family begin to have health issues. Which especially in children can lead to problems with their cognitive development, lead to higher probabilities of anxiety and aggression and behavioral problems. What they chose to do was to pick 2 year spans before, during and after the recession. Within this they had a number of households answer questions and with those answers they formed a point system and depending on the amount of points in the end they could determine their food stability. From their findings the houses with low incomes and no children had the quickest increase in food insecurity. As I mentioned before blacks had the highest rate of food insecurity yet when looking at the numbers and data they found that they had a very low change in food insecurity over the decade examined. There was no change in the hispanic households with low income and children. The race with the greatest change in food insecurity were the white low income households with children increasing in all three time spans. Overall food insecurity is a problem that is affecting many households in the US, some may be hit more than others but is something that should be known and will sadly always be an issue.

Quiz

Caitlynn Toste Homeless/Food Quiz

Caitlynn Toste

Word Count: 372

Homeless/Food Quiz

"A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity" is an article reviewing and studying the statistics of poverty in the United States. This study reviews the time period from 2000 to 2014 to study the differences between before the recession (2001-2003), during the recession (2006-2008), and after the recession (2011-2013). Food insecurity was measured by the experience in the household in the last twelve months and measured in a scale that has 18 items to classify the severity of food insecurity in different households. In this study they found that there has not been any recovery to food insecurity since the Great Recession (Balistreri, 2016). In patterns of food insecurity, they found that low-income black families with children had the highest rate of food insecurity while, low-income Hispanic households with children had no change in their food insecurity (Balistreri, 2016). In low-income white households with children, Balistreri found that food insecurity rapidly increased (Balistreri, 2016).

While "Monitoring Perceptions of the Causes of Poverty in South Africa" is an article that reviewed and studied how individuals view the poor. This survey included results from 3,498 randomly selected South Africans and participants were surveyed on individualistic explanations, structural explanations, and fatalistic explanations (Davids and Gouws, 2013). Individualistic explanations meaning the blame is completely on the poor, structural explanation meaning the blame is n the social and economic forces, and fatalistic explanations meaning the blame is on the bad luck or illness of the poor person. In this survey, the participants included a variation of race, these races included; 76% black Africans, 12% whites, 9% colored, and 3% Indian/Asian, and when they are grouped by gender 49% were male and 51% were female (Davids and Gouws, 2013). This study has concluded that many factors have pushed individuals to become poor, whites have a greater amount of access to everyday necessities then other races, and there is a variation in opinions of the poor that was based on racial groups (Davids and Gouws, 2013). It was also concluded that age, education, employment, and gender were not factors that significantly impacted the rates of poverty and discovered that poverty is seen on both the structural and individualistic aspects (Davids and Gouws, 2013). 

Priscilla Gabriel

Priscilla Gabriel, 478 words

A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity

            In this article, they looked at the rates of food insecurity in the US. They wanted to find out whether the rates were increasing or decreasing. To do this, they did a study that ranged from 2001 to 2003, 2006 to 2008, and 2011 to 2013. During these years they used the Current Population Survey and the Food Security Supplement survey to gather their findings. Some factors that these surveys addressed were whether the households had children or not and also the different races of those taking the survey. There were many questions some asking if their children couldn't eat because of money problems or if they didn't have enough food to last them till they got more money for more food. These surveys showed them that the food insecurity rate had increased greatly because of low income. Many people were unemployed or didn't make enough money to buy enough food for their family. They also found that the rate of those unemployed or in poverty were higher among Black and Hispanic households. Another thing they found was that the rate of those households with children were higher than those without children, however those households without children had a higher increase rate throughout the years.

 

Mental Health Correlates of Past Homelessness in Latinos and Asians

            This article looked at the number of homeless Latinos and Asians and whether any mental illness was a factor in these findings. To get the data they needed they used the National Latino and Asian American Study. In this study, they had multiple surveys asking Latinos and Asian Americans whether they have been homeless and if so how long. These surveys also asked if they had any mental illnesses or history of substance abuse. After doing this survey they were able to gather a lot of information. This was the first study that had data about Asian Americans being homeless. This study showed that only 1.3% of Asians reported being homeless for a week or more. They also found that those Asian Americans who were homeless had a history of being on welfare. Although they were able to gather data about Asian Americans, there wasn't much Asians who were homeless. They believed this was because most Asians feel they should care for sick family members which led to a low number of reported homeless. Next, this study found that there was a higher reported rate for Latinos. About 4.7% of Latinos reported being homeless for a week or more. Those who reported being homeless were more likely to have a history of substance abuse. Many of these Latinos reported that they attended church services more than once a week. They believed that this led the rates of homelessness to decrease because many Latinos found church as a cure.