Objective: Millions of US households experienced food insecurity in 2005.
Research indicates that low wages and little social support contribute to food
insecurity. The present study aimed to examine whether social support moderates
the relationship between income and food insecurity.
Design: Using a mail survey, we collected data on social support sources (social
network, intimate partner and community) and social support functions from a
social network (instrumental, informational and emotional). We used hierarchical
logistic regression to examine the potential moderation of various measures of
social support on the relationship between income and food insecurity, adjusting
for potential confounding variables.
Setting: Oregon, USA.
Subjects: A stratified random sample of Oregonians aged 18–64 years (n 343).
Results: We found no evidence of an association between social support and food
insecurity, nor any evidence that social support acts as a moderator between
income and food insecurity, regardless of the measure of social support used.
Conclusions: Although previous research suggested that social support could
offset the negative impact of low income on food security, our study did not find
support for such an effect.Keywords: Moderation analysis, Food insecurity, Oregon, Social suppor