Description

FSLESSMOCAT indicates the number of days out of the last 30, if any, the respondent ate less than the respondent thought s/he should because they could not afford enough food. This item is available only for households where the respondent reported eating less than she or s/he should in the past year (FSLESSYR).

Prior to 2019, FSLESSMOCAT responses ranged from 0-30 days. In 2019, a categorical system was introduced to reduce the risk of disclosing respondent identities. FSLESSMOCAT recodes responses in samples from before 2019 to use the 2019 categorical responses. The original continuous responses for those samples are available in FSLESSMO.

The questions used to construct this variable are two of the 18 items included in 30-day household food security scale, FSSTATUSM. Households are screened into this section of the supplement based on income and preliminary questions on food access (see FSSCREEN for more information).

This variable is part of the Food Security Supplement.

Comparability

This variable is generally comparable over available years since 1995, and the universe is generally consistent since 1998. From 1998 onwards, both the preliminary screening questions and the internal screening questions that precede FSLESSMO are consistent over time. Specifically, 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 FSLESSYR and FSLESSMO.

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