Insecurity Factors Research Articles

Determinants of food insecurity among Syrian refugee women and their coping strategies

AimThere is limited knowledge on the prevalence, risk factors, and coping strategies of food insecurity among women refugees. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, severity, and risk factors of food insecurity among Syrian women refugees living in Türkiye (Turkey) and to evaluate the various coping strategies they use to manage food insecurity.MethodsThis descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 251 Syrian women refugees aged 18–64 years living in Türkiye. Data were collected by native Arabic-speaking researchers through online and face-to-face surveys. Sociodemographic data, anthropometric measurements, food insecurity status, and coping strategies were analyzed. ‘Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)’ was used to determine the food insecurity status.ResultsIt was found that 28% of the women who participated in the study had food security, 35% had mild, 24% had moderate, and 13% had severe food insecurity. In the group with food insecurity, age, number of children in the family, and average body mass index (BMI) were higher, while education and income level were lower (p < 0,05). For each 1-unit increase in BMI, there was a 0.122 increase in the total FIES score. A 1-unit increase in the number of children was associated with a 0.333 increase in the total FIES score. The most preferred strategies to cope with food insecurity were found to be purchasing less preferred and cheaper foods, and reducing portion sizes.ConclusionIt was found that food insecurity is common among Syrian women refugees living in Türkiye. Women who are older, have more children, lower income, lower education, and higher BMI are more likely to experience food insecurity. Studies with larger samples and longer follow-up periods are needed to investigate the causes and effects of food insecurity among women refugees.

Unsupervised news analysis for enhanced high‐frequency food insecurity assessment

AbstractThis article introduces an artificial intelligence (AI)‐based system for forecasting food insecurity in data‐limited settings, employing unsupervised neural networks for topic modeling on news data. Unlike traditional methods, our system operates without relying on expert assumptions about food insecurity factors. Through a case study in Somalia, we show that the method can yield competitive performance, even in the absence of traditional food security indicators such as food prices. This system is valuable in supporting expert assessments of food insecurity, unlocking a wealth of untapped information from news outlets, and offering a path toward more frequent and automated food insecurity monitoring for timely crisis intervention.

Psychosocial factors related to the increasing automation of work processes: A systematic review

Purpose: To identify which psychosocial factors can be related to the increasing automation of work processes, determining practical implications relevant to the evaluation of psychosocial risk factors at work within organizations before the imminent transition towards industry 4.0 Design/methodology/approach: A systematic review of the literature was carried out. The review structure was based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) approach for the studies selection and the Noblit and Hare's meta-ethnographic approach for data analysis and synthesis. Findings: Thirty-five studies were selected which passed all the selection stages. Six psychosocial risk factors were detected whose behaviors may be influenced by the increasing automation of work. Evidence suggests that the factors of development possibility, change management, mental load, routine content, and job insecurity may increase their exposure due to job modifications owing to new automation technologies. On the other hand, social relationships at work have the ability to positively influence the successful implementation of new automated processes. Originality/value: The results obtained represent excellent indications of an overview of psychosocial risk factors that may increase their danger due to the increasing automation of work processes and Industry 4.0.

Prevalence and risk factors of food insecurity among Syrian refugees in Türkiye

BackgroundAlthough Türkiye (Turkey) hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, studies on food insecurity are limited. This study examined the prevalence and risk factors of food insecurity among Syrian refugees living in Istanbul, which has the highest number of refugees in Türkiye.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among Syrian refugees in Istanbul between September 2021 and March 2022. The main income earners of 103 households were interviewed by a research dietitian, with the assistance of an Arabic speaking interpreter through hour-long face-to-face. Data on sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, nationality, marital status, educational status, the family income, the major source of family income, and the number of family members living in the household etc.) and household food insecurity status were collected. Household food insecurity status was assessed with the eighteen-item Household Food Security Survey Module.ResultsThe household food insecurity rate was 90.3%, and those of adults and children were 88.4% and 84.8%, respectively. It was observed that family income level was significantly associated with food insecurity. A one-unit increase in monthly income increased food security by 0.02 times (p < 0.001). The number of employed refugees in the food security group was higher than that in the food insecurity group (p = 0.018). A significant difference was found in the rate of occupation type of the major income earner between the groups (p = 0.046).ConclusionsHigh rates of food insecurity, particularly severe food insecurity, were found among Syrian refugees living in Istanbul. While more research is warranted to explore the root causes and efficacy of the current support system, it requires the immediate attention of policymakers at the national and international levels to implement effective policies and interventions.

Determinants of Re-borrowing Intention in Peer-to-Peer Lending

Purpose: This study aims to determine the effect of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and insecurity risk on re-borrowing intention in peer-to-peer lending moderated by the facilitating condition. P2P lending in Indonesia is still at an early stage of development so there are many challenges related to insecurity and public acceptance of P2P lending financial technology. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a quantitative approach for survey research. The research population was peer-to-peer lending borrower in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The sample members were 207 online loan borrowers by chance contacted by the researchers in different online loan in Indonesia. The data analysis method used is the Structural Equation Modeling technique based on Partial Least Square. Findings: The study found that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, has positive and significant effect on online loan attitude. Insecurity risk has a negative and significant effect on online loan attitude (t-test value of 5.36 and p= 0.03&lt;0.05). Besides, online loan attitude seems proven to have a positive and significant effect on re-borrowing intention. Likewise, effect of online loan attitude on re-borrowing intention moderated by the facilitating condition. Research limitations/implications: This research has several limitations. The variables in this research are developed from the basic TAM model by adding other variables outside TAM. The factors influencing re-borrowing behavior on online loans can differ in different theoretical approaches. Hopefully, future research can compare the results of this study with other models outside TAM. Originality/value: It often encourages irrational decisions by re-borrowing online loans even though they realize this decision is not wise. This article attempts to fill the gap in the literature by adding insecurity factors and facilitating conditions to attitudes and intentions in using technology in the context of online P2P lending from the borrower's side.

Food Insecurity Prevalence and Risk Factors at a Large Academic Medical Center in Michigan

Health care systems are increasingly adopting methods to screen for and integrate food insecurity and other social risk factors into electronic health records. However, there remain knowledge gaps regarding the cumulative burden of food insecurity in large clinical settings, which patients are most at risk, and the extent to which patients are interested in social assistance through their health care system. To evaluate the 5-year prevalence and associated risk factors of food insecurity among adult primary care patients, and to examine factors associated with patients' interest in social assistance among those with food insecurity. This cross-sectional analysis of a retrospective cohort study took place at a tertiary care academic medical center (encompassing 20 primary care clinics) in Michigan. Participants included adult patients who completed screening for social risk factors between August 1, 2017, and August 1, 2022. Data analysis was performed from November 2022 to June 2023. Food insecurity was assessed using the Hunger Vital Sign. The primary outcome was patients' interest in social assistance, and associated factors were examined using multivariate logistic regression models, adjusting for patients' demographic and health characteristics. Over the 5-year period, 106 087 adult primary care patients (mean [SD] age, 52.9 [17.9] years; 61 343 women [57.8%]) completed the standardized social risk factors questionnaire and were included in the analysis. The overall prevalence of food insecurity was 4.2% (4498 patients), with monthly trends ranging from 1.5% (70 positive screens) in August 2018 to 5.0% (193 positive screens) in June 2022. Food insecurity was significantly higher among patients who were younger, female, non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic, unmarried or unpartnered, and with public health insurance. Food insecurity was significantly associated with a higher cumulative burden of social needs, including social isolation, medical care insecurity, medication nonadherence, housing instability, and lack of transportation. Only 20.6% of patients with food insecurity (927 patients) expressed interest in social assistance. Factors associated with interest in social assistance including being non-Hispanic Black, unmarried or unpartnered, a current smoker, and having a higher burden of other social needs. In this retrospective cohort study, the overall prevalence of food insecurity was 4.2%, of whom approximately 1 in 5 patients with food insecurity expressed interest in assistance. This study highlights ongoing challenges in ensuring all patients complete routine social determinants of health screening and gaps in patients' interest in assistance for food insecurity and other social needs through their health care system.

Housing Insecurity during Covid-19

Housing insecurity is a problem for people during COVID-19. This is because the struggling of economy and the financial pandemic. During COVID-19 government has announced citizen to limit their movement and all outdoor activities is not allowed. In the pandemic situation government came out with a Movement Control Order to control the spread of viruses among citizens. This paper aims to identify the challenges and factors of housing insecurity among people in Batu Pahat and analyze the issues of homeownership. The study was conducted quantitatively through a questionnaire that has been spread to the potential respondents. The objectives are to identify factors and challenges and also the importance of homeownership and the location of houses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the researcher has been studying the level of group income and average income to identify their ability for homeownership. The findings showed people's intensity with the financial and price of houses. However, there are weaknesses such as the limitation of respondents and data during the research process. In conclusion, affordable houses also being a factor because is hard to find in the Batu Pahat area based on the answer from respondents in the questionnaire.

RCDAM-Net: A Foreign Object Detection Algorithm for Transmission Tower Lines Based on RevCol Network

As an important part of the power system, it is necessary to ensure the safe and stable operation of transmission lines. Due to long-term exposure to the outdoors, the lines face many insecurity factors, and foreign object intrusion is one of them. Traditional foreign object (bird’s nest, kite, balloon, trash bag) detection algorithms suffer from low efficiency, poor accuracy, and small coverage, etc. To address the above problems, this paper introduces the RCDAM-Net. In order to prevent feature loss or useful feature compression, the RevCol (Reversible Column Networks) is used as the backbone network to ensure that the total information remains unchanged during feature decoupling. DySnakeConv (Dynamic Snake Convolution) is adopted and embedded into the C2f structure, which is named C2D and integrates low-level features and high-level features. Compared to the original BottleNeck structure of C2f, the DySnakeConv enhances the feature extraction ability for elongated and weak targets. In addition, MPDIoU (Maximum Performance Diagonal Intersection over Union) is used to improve the regression performance of model bounding boxes, solving the problem of predicted bounding boxes having the same aspect ratio as true bounding boxes, but with different values. Further, we adopt Decoupled Head for detection and add additional auxiliary training heads to improve the detection accuracy of the model. The experimental results show that the model achieves mAP50, Precision, and Recall of 97.98%, 98.15%, and 95.16% on the transmission tower line foreign object dataset, which is better to existing multi-target detection algorithms.

Analysis of User Acceptance Towards The Implementation of Information Systems in Financial Institutions Using Technology Readiness and Acceptance Model Approach

This research aims to measure the influence of user acceptance and readiness on implementing information systems. Researchers conducted this research using a quantitative approach. Researchers collected samples using a multi-stage purposive sampling strategy. There were one hundred participants in the study's sample. This study used two data collection methods: unstructured interviews were conducted to gather supporting data for the research, and questionnaires were distributed to get primary data. Inferential statistical analysis was performed in this study utilizing the PLS-SEM approach with SmartPLS. At this point, two analyses, the measurement model analysis, and the structural model analysis, must be completed. These findings indicate that sentiments of optimism and inventiveness positively impact opinions about the advantages and usability of information systems. This factor encourages users' interest in accepting or continuing to use the information system so that it will have a good influence on its implementation. On the other hand, user discomfort in using information systems tends to negatively influence assessments of the benefits and ease of use of information systems. User discomfort in using information systems hinders users' interest in using the information system, which impedes implementing the information system. The insecurity factor did not influence the assessment of the benefits and ease of use of information systems. These findings have several differences from previous research.

The intercropping of different varieties of tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L.) with maize (Zea mays L.) and its role in tolerance to drought and salinity

Climate change will lead to an increase in the frequency and severity of abiotic stresses, such as drought and salinity, transforming them into major factors of food insecurity. This is of particular concern in arid and semi-arid regions, where soil salinity and water scarcity represent a significant threat to agriculture. This is why exploring agricultural techniques to improve production is essential. Intercropping, a method that has demonstrated its effectiveness against a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses, is of particular interest. In this study, we examined the impact of intercropping three tomato varieties (Jade, Blancato, and Karima) with maize on the resistance of these plants to water and salt stresses. Plant growth parameters such as yield and plant biomass, as well as biochemical parameters such as pH, total proteins, chlorophyll, and water content, were evaluated in these tomato varieties. The results indicate that intercropping had a positive effect on tolerance to abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity by improving physiological and biochemical parameters studied here specially in terms of yield (in terms of yield V. Karima showed the most important results). This paves the way for further research, particularly by geneticists and agronomists seeking to develop varieties adapted to intercropping to ensure the sustainability of this technique.

Identifying the risk factors associated with food insecurity in the UK veteran population: a nationwide survey.

There has been limited focus placed on exploring food insecurity within the UK-ex-Armed Forces population. The present study aims to build on initial work by investigating the prevalence and associated factors of food insecurity within UK veterans and their families and their current health status. 881 veterans (or a family member) who previously served in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, Army and the Royal Air Force completed an online survey to explore health status, food insecurity and receipt of benefits. In total, 16.9% of survey respondents were part of food-insecure households, with 12% of these also experiencing some element of hunger. Working age, non-officer rank at the time of service discharge, not being married, living in rented accommodation, having at least one medical condition and in receipt of other benefits were significant risk factors associated with food insecurity. Understanding the specific risk factors associated with food insecurity is vital to develop personalised interventions and policies, such as income support programmes and affordable housing initiatives. However, more work is needed to further explore the factors associated with food insecurity, particularly in the long term.

The Effects of Job Insecurity of Flying Trainees Caused by Pandemic on the Job-Seeking Efficacy: Focusing on the Mediating Effect of Major Satisfaction

This study examines how job insecurity affects the job search effectiveness of flight trainees and explores the moderating role of job satisfaction. Surveying 306 flight trainees from universities and private institutions, the research reveals that job insecurity significantly impairs their ability to gather job-related information and cope with challenging situations. Job satisfaction moderates the relationship between job insecurity and specific job-related anxieties, providing a buffer against negative impacts. This study uniquely focuses on flight trainees and highlights the importance of reducing job insecurity to improve their job search efficacy, emphasizing the positive influence of job satisfaction in this context. First, the effect of job insecurity of flight trainees on job search efficacy was analyzed. First, as a result of analyzing the effect of flight trainees' job insecurity on job understanding among job insecurity factors, job insecurity and job insecurity among flight trainees have a significant negative effect on job information. Second, the moderating effect of job satisfaction on the effect of job insecurity on job search efficacy of flight trainees was analyzed. First, major satisfaction did not have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between job anxiety and job anxiety among the sub-factors of job anxiety, but there was a significant moderating effect on the relationship between job anxiety and job anxiety. This study differed from previous studies in the subject of the survey by applying it to flight trainees in empirical analysis of the impact of job insecurity on job search efficacy. Furthermore, the academic significance of this study can be found in that it has been verified through empirical analysis that job satisfaction can have a positive effect on job search efficacy by verifying the moderating effect of job satisfaction on job satisfaction. Key Words : Job Insecurity, Job Search Efficacy, Major Satisfaction, Job Understanding, Flight Trainees.

Journalists’ Perceptions of Precarity: Toward a Theoretical Model

ABSTRACT Journalistic work has become increasingly precarious. Labor conditions in the profession meet several criteria of precarity, as established in the sociology of work. Journalists, especially freelancers, often have low and unstable incomes and only limited access to social insurance. Thus far, precarity research in journalism has primarily focused on empirical investigations of precarious employment rather than on theorizing how journalists actually perceive these working conditions. This paper proposes a theoretical model that determines the factors of security and insecurity that can lead to a stronger or weaker perception of precarity. Drawing on a review of the precarity literature, the model allows for subjectivity within the precarious experience of journalists. It shows that family responsibilities and personality traits belong to the subjective factors influencing journalists’ perceptions of precarity. In addition, perceptions of insecure employment conditions depend on the life stage of the worker. We strongly recommend a multidimensional approach that captures not only the objective conditions of work but also journalists’ subjective sense of precarity.

Prevalence and predictors of food insecurity among university students – Results from the Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany

This study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of food insecurity (FI) among university students in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a cross-sectional study (n = 626) between November and December 2021 at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, using an online questionnaire. The analysis of FI was based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). We statistically validated our data using the Rasch model. Moreover, demographic, socio-economic and educational variables were collected using a questionnaire developed by the Food Insecurity among European University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic (FINESCOP) consortium. Overall, 27.5 % of the university students are food insecure. The proportion of university students experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity (FImod+sev) is 10.4 % and the proportion experiencing severe food insecurity (FIsev) 0.9 %. Results from a logistic regression showed that students have a higher chance to be food insecure if they were not born in Europe and if their parents have a secondary or lower educational level. We further found an association between age and FI. Also receiving a student loan during the pandemic and getting food assistance increased the likelihood of being food insecure. Our results show that FI is prevalent among this particularly vulnerable population group. Thus, public health, as well as policy efforts may need to become more target group-specific in accordance with the identified circumstances and specific characteristics to avoid that university students suffer from FI.

Environmental factors of food insecurity in adolescents: A scoping review protocol.

Food insecurity in recent years has increased worldwide due to many planetary events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, the climate crisis, and globalization of markets. Adolescents are a particularly vulnerable group to food insecurity, as they enter adulthood with less parental supervision and greater personal autonomy, but less legislative or institutional protection. The experience of food insecurity in adolescents is influenced by several environmental factors at different levels (interpersonal, organizational, community, and societal), although they are not usually addressed in the design of interventions, prioritizing the individual behavioural factors. We present a scoping review protocol for assessing and identifying the environmental factors that could influence adolescents' food insecurity. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) and the PRISMA guidelines for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) to prepare the protocol. The search strategy will be performed in the following databases: Pubmed/Medline, EMBASE, Biblioteca Virtual de Salud, EBSCOHost, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library Plus. The reference list of the included studies will also be hand-searched. Grey literature will be search through the electronic database Grey Literature Report, and local, provincial, national, and international organisations' websites. Assessment of eligibility after screening of titles, abstract and full text, and the resolution of discrepancies will be performed by three independent reviewers. This scoping review will contribute to refine the "logic model of the problem" which constitutes the first step in the intervention mapping protocol. The "logic model of the problem" from the intervention mapping protocol will serve to classify and analyse the environmental factors. The findings from this review will be presented to relevant stakeholders that have a role in shaping the environmental factors.

Household food security access and dietary diversity amidst COVID-19 pandemic in rural Nepal; an evidence from rapid assessment.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to surging concerns about food insecurity status throughout the world. In response to global and national concerns on food and nutrition security, this study aimed to examine the prevalence and determining factors of household food insecurity and dietary diversity among people from selected rural municipalities of Lalitpur district, Nepal. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 432 households. Pretested structured questionnaires were used to collect socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, household income; influence of COVID-19 on their income and livelihood, household's access to food and dietary diversity. Food insecurity was measured using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS). A multivariable analysis was done using binary logistic regression model following a bivariate analysis to assess the association between the dependent and independent variables. More than one-third (36%) of the households reported some form of food insecurity. The overall mean score for Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) was 6.0 (±1.1). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that participants aged 41-64 years (aOR = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.21-0.59), those over 64 years (aOR = 0.22, 95% CI: 0.07-0.66), as well as those in service occupation (aOR = 0.22, 95% CI: 0.06-0.77) were associated with lower odds of HFIAS. Conversely, Participants belonging to a disadvantaged ethnic group (aOR = 2.73, 95% CI: 1.23-6.07), having no education (aOR = 3.70, 95% CI: 1.16-11.71) or primary education (aOR = 3.67, 95% CI: 1.23-9.89), and those suffering from chronic illness (aOR = 3.12, 95% CI: 1.53-6.35) were associated with higher odds of HFIAS. As for HDDS, participants aged 41-64 years (aOR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.28-0.83) were associated with lower odds of HDDS, while participants having no education (aOR = 10.05, 95% CI: 4.05-24.01) were associated with significantly higher odds of HDDS. Owing to the pandemic, our study showed a substantial prevalence of food insecurity among diverse community residing in rural outskirts of Kathmandu Valley, particularly among disadvantaged ethnic group and people with lower level of education. Interventions targeting these particular groups may help in improving HFIAS and HDDS among them during emergencies.

Nutritional status of older adults in India: An exploration of the role of oral health and food insecurity factors

BackgroundIn this study, we attempted to generate insights into the determinants of nutritional status among older adults in India by exploring the role of factors including oral health, food insecurity, socioeconomic, demographic and health-related variables. The study also examined the moderating role of tooth loss with the association between chewing ability and nutritional status. MethodsThe data was obtained from Longitudinal Ageing Study India (LASI) – Wave 1 (2017-18). The sample consisted of 27,411 older adults (Male = 13, 232; Female = 14, 179) aged 60 years and above. In addition to descriptive and bivariate analysis, we employed multinominal logistic regression analysis. ResultThere was a significant association between the ability to chew solid food and tooth loss in the nutritional status of older adults. It was further revealed that tooth loss acted as a moderator (aRRR = 1.50, 95 % CI: 1.08–2.08) between the chewing ability and the risk of being underweight. The weight loss due to food insecurity increased the relative risk ratio of being underweight (aRRR = 1.58, 95 % CI: 1.25–2.00). Further evidence showed that self-rated health (SRH), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), morbidity status and socioeconomic factors had a significant role in determining the nutritional status among older adults. ConclusionChewing ability, tooth loss, and food insecurity determine nutritional status among older adults. It is suggested to care for oral and general physical health as these factors increase the risk of nutritional deficits. Also, policy measures should be strengthened to address the specific health and food security needs of older adults from vulnerable socioeconomic circumstances.

Risk factors of food insecurity among students at diverse post-secondary education institutions: a cross-sectional examination.

Identify the prevalence of food insecurity (FI) and compare sociodemographic, mental, physical, behavioral, and environmental risk factors for FI among students at a private university, community college, and historically black college or university (HBCU). Adult students attending a private university, community college, or HBCU (n = 4,140) located within the southeastern United States. Using an online survey (2017-2019), FI, sociodemographic, mental, physical, behavioral, and environmental data were collected to understand their association with FI. Up to 37.1% of students experienced FI. Identifying as black, other/multi-racial, having poor sleep, federal loans, depressive symptoms, high stress, social isolation, or a chronic condition were associated with FI. These associations varied by institution. FI is prevalent within diverse post-secondary institutions that serve traditional and nontraditional students with risk factors varying between institutions. The prevalence of FI and risk factors can inform institutional policy responses to ameliorate the effects of FI.

Adolescents’ difficulties, strengths and feelings of insecurity: a cross-sectional descriptive survey in Finland

The present study aimed to describe adolescents’ self-reported emotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties, as well as their insecurity feeling. In addition, the aim was to examine the association with background characteristics, and explore the association between strengths and difficulties and insecurity factors. The study was conducted among 114 secondary school pupils in Finland, using an online questionnaire. Adolescents’ emotional and behavioural difficulties and strengths, were mostly classified as normal. Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire total score as well as internal and external score, were inversely associated with insecurity factors. Girls had significantly higher prosocial behavior compared to boys (P = 0.0007). The age of adolescents was found to be related to their internal difficulties (P = 0.02) and prosocial behavior (P = 0.01). Adolescent’s perception of their family relations as poor was associated with external difficulties (P = 0.04). The current results, can be helpful for mental health professionals who work with adolescents in order to implement appropriate and needs specific mental health promotion interventions at individual but also community level. Finally, more research is needed to validate measures for insecurity. This will support mental health professionals in their clinical practice by providing them with all the important factors needed to support adolescents.

Risk Factors for Food Insecurity among Older Adults in India: Study Based on LASI, 2017-2018.

Food security is linked to the nutritional status and well-being of older adults. India is a rapidly aging nation that ranks highly on the 2022 Global Hunger Index. This paper examines the prevalence and risk factors of food insecurity in India's older population. We used data from the 2017-2018 Longitudinal Aging Study in India. The sample size was 31,532 adults aged 60 years and above. Food insecurity was measured using a four-item version of the Food Insecurity Experience scale. Multivariable logistic regressions using individual-level weights were implemented to assess the risk factors of food insecurity. The prevalence of food insecurity was 10.5% in the weighted sample. Sociodemographic factors were important in explaining food insecurity. Older adults who were male, younger, lowly educated, socially disadvantaged, in rural areas, and outside the Northern region were most vulnerable to food insecurity, controlling for various confounders. Additionally, low economic status, no occupational pension, currently working, social isolation, physical impairment, functional disabilities, poor self-rated health, and arthritis were associated with an increased risk of food insecurity. More active food assistance programs catering to older adults and a better provision of economic and social security are warranted to establish a food-secure environment for rapidly aging India.