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WAFOOD Brief 14 – Washington State Food Security Surveys: Cross-sectional findings from survey waves 1-4, 2020-2023

Screenshot of WAFOOD4 Brief 4

Published August 3, 2023, this research brief presents cross-sectional findings from WAFOOD Waves 1-4 (June 2020 – January 2023), with data from the full sample of respondents in each wave. Because the majority of respondents in each wave were new, this brief does not draw conclusions on changes over time.

Published July 13, 2023, this research brief presents cross-sectional findings from WAFOOD Waves 1-4 (June 2020 – January 2023), with data from the full sample of respondents in each wave. Because the majority of respondents in each wave were new, this brief does not draw conclusions on changes over time.

Initial Findings

From four survey waves conducted with different samples of Washington State residents between 2020 and 2023, between 27% and 49% of households experienced food insecurity. Across all waves, food assistance use was more commonly reported by food insecure households, but regardless of food security status, reported food assistance use was more common during all four survey waves than estimates of pre-pandemic usage. In most survey waves, more than half of respondents experiencing food insecurity reported feeling depressed, anxious, or stressed. During Waves 1 and 2 (summer 2020 and winter 2021), overall per-person food spending was lower than pre-pandemic estimates, with higher grocery costs and lower eating out costs. In Wave 3 (summer 2021), participants reported the lowest food spending of all waves. In Wave 4 (winter 2023), food spending exceeded pre-pandemic levels for both groceries and eating out.

Explore More: Find all briefs and publications related to this study on the project page.

Materials

Publication Date: August 3, 2023

Author(s): The WAFOOD survey is a joint effort between the UW and WSU. The WAFOOD4 team comprises Jennifer J. Otten, Associate Professor, Nutritional Sciences Program (NSP) and DEOHS at the UW School of Public Health (UWSPH); Marie L. Spiker, Assistant Professor, NSP, Epidemiology, and DEOHS at UWSPH; Jane Dai, PhD Student, Health Systems and Population Health at UWSPH; Ashley S. Tseng, PhD Candidate, Epidemiology at UWSPH; James Buszkiewicz, Research Investigator, Epidemiology at University of Michigan Ann Arbor SPH; Shawna Beese, Assistant Professor of Rural Health Promotion at WSU Health Sciences; Sarah M. Collier, Assistant Professor, NSP and DEOHS at UWSPH; and Alan Ismach, Research Coordinator, DEOHS at UWSPH.

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