Time poverty, work characteristics and the transition to food insecurity among low -income households

Food insecurity refers to a household's inability to provide adequate food for all adults and children. This study focuses on how work characteristics---number of hours worked, schedule of employment, and commuting distance---relate to the transition to food insecurity. It is theorized that availability of time for household food provisioning will be reduced by certain job characteristics. Inadequate time for food provisioning and other household tasks---time poverty---will likely increase the amount of money households spend on food. These increases in expenditures may increase the likelihood of transitioning to food insecurity among low-income households. Much food insecurity research has been cross-sectional; this study is unique in analyzing a panel data set utilizing discrete time Event History analysis to model the first observed transition to food insecurity. Data for the study come from the Family Life Project, a sample of low-income households with young children from nonmetropolitan and small metropolitan counties that are followed over three years of data collection. The results suggest that households with mothers working full-time are more likely to become food insecure than households with mothers not working, controlling for income and other characteristics. Role overload, or greater demands on mothers' time, is significantly related to households transitioning into food insecurity. The theoretical framework developed, suggesting that time for food provisioning is a vital resource that can reduce the likelihood of becoming food insecure, is supported by the Event History analysis. Theories regarding time availability and allocation have not before been applied to understand how food insecurity develops. This research provides an important theoretical and substantive contribution to the food insecurity literature in documenting the importance of time as a resource affecting households' transitions to food insecurity.