Characterizing household food security status, perceived neighborhood food environment, and food shopping behaviors among caregivers of children in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Youth ancillary study (SOL Youth)

Abstract

U.S. Hispanic/Latino households disproportionally experience food insecurity, which may intersect with their food environments and food shopping behaviors to shape diet and health, but more representative findings are needed. We identified latent classes related to household food security (HFS), food environments, and food shopping behaviors among U.S. Hispanic/Latino households, and investigated their relationships with sociodemographic characteristics. We used cross-sectional data from 983 adult caregivers residing with youth (8-16 y) and participating in the multisite Study of Latino Youth. Caregivers completed the USDA HFS Survey Module (high, marginal, low, very low FS), a 5-item perceived neighborhood food environment (healthy food availability, quality, cost) questionnaire, and a 5-item food outlet shopping frequency questionnaire. We identified the best-fitting solution of latent classes by examining standard fit criteria and determined the relationship of latent classes to distal sociodemographic characteristics. We identified a 5-class solution. The “average quality, somewhat costly food environment” class (19.7 %) had low and high HFS and shopped at a variety of food stores; this class had the highest proportion of participants who were foreign-born (96 %) and reporting Spanish as their preferred language (90 %). The “high quality, high-cost food environment, food-insecure household” class (22.6 %) shopped at supermarkets and had the highest proportion of participants with a household income of ≤$20,000 (68 %). The “poor quality, high-cost food environment” class (16.8 %) had low and high HFS and shopped at supermarkets and convenience stores; this class had the highest proportion of participants who were single (33 %), without a vehicle (53 %), and reporting English as their preferred language (39 %). The “high quality, somewhat costly food environment, food-secure household” class (15.0 %) shopped at a variety of food stores and had the highest proportion (65 %) of participants with a household income of >$20,000. The “high quality, affordable food environment, food-secure household” class (25.9 %) shopped at supermarkets and had the highest proportion of participants who were US-born (25 %). U.S. Hispanic/Latino adults living with youth reported distinct combinations of HFS status, perceived neighborhood food environments, and food shopping behaviors, which underscores the complexity of factors defining adequate food access.