Description

FSHUNGR indicates how often over the past year the respondent in the household was hungry but did not eat because there was not enough money for food. This variable is available only for households that previously indicated food distress in the past year.

The two questions used to construct FSHUNGR are two of the 18 items included in the 12-month household food security scale, FSSTATUS. Only households with incomes below 185% of poverty and higher income households that indicate food access problems in response to preliminary screening questions are included in the Food Sufficiency and Food Security section of the supplement. Within this section, there are two internal screeners; and FSHUNGR is subject to the first of these screeners.

Comparability

This variable is generally comparable over available years since 1995, and the universe is generally consistent since 1998. From 1998 onwards, only households that in the past year did not have enough to eat (FSFOODS), worried about running out of food (FSWROUTY), ran out of food (FSBUYMR), or did not eat balanced meals (FSBAL) continue on to answer FSHUNGR.

Prior to 1998, both the internal screeners and the screening procedures used to determine which households were screened into the food security assessment varied. Researchers need account for this when including data prior to 1998.

Universe

Flags

Unharmonized Variables