Lacking in the land of plenty: Understanding coping strategies used by the food insecure

Socially disadvantaged individuals disproportionately experience limited or uncertain availability of safe nutritionally adequate foods and face barriers to food acquisition. Chronic or intermittent food insecurity is incompatible with good physical and mental health. To maintain an adequate household food supply, individuals resort to using coping strategies that can result in inadequate nutrient intake; consumption of unsafe foods; and engagement in financial, food safety, illegal/regulatory, nutritional, physically risky strategies. NJ residents (n=492) were interviewed at 50 randomly selected Emergency Food Provider sites about sociodemographics and use of 78 coping strategies. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression modeling was performed to describe this population, examine associations, and identify predictors of risky strategy use. 77% of respondents were unemployed, 42% Black (14% NJ, US Census), 58% had monthly household incomes <$99; of these, 17% reported earning <$50/month. 52% of coping strategies posed risks (19% nutritional, 16% food safety, 10% financial, 6% illegal/regulatory, and 1% physical). Very low food secure (VLFS) individuals used at least 6 times more coping strategies than individuals at all other levels of food security. VLFS predicted increased use of risky coping strategies with greater prospects for financial, food safety, illegal/regulatory, and nutritional risks than even those at a low food-security level. Quantifying, categorizing and recognizing likely users of certain strategies can provide researchers, advocates, and policy makers with actionable information to address the disproportionally high rates of food insecurity threatening the health of those who are socially disadvantaged and in so doing reduce health disparities.