THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN FOOD SUFFICIENCY AND SELF-EVALUTATED HEALTH: A BIVARIATE ORDERED PROBIT ANALYSIS FOR THE HOUSEHOLDS OF THE USA

This study investigated the association between food sufficiency and self-evaluated health status, along with the major determinants influencing them, such as food accessibility, participation in food assistance programs, gender, trust in health-care provider, transportation accessibility, generations, etc. In this research, we applied a bivariate ordered probit model to two different datasets: the North Central Region: Baseline Survey 2022 (NCR-Stat: Baseline) and the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to examine the potential association between the various determinants and food sufficiency and self-evaluated health. As obtained, the results from the NCR-Stat dataset suggest that food accessibility and trust in healthcare providers are positively associated with better self-evaluated health and food sufficiency. Additionally, female respondents tend to report negative health association and significant food insufficiency compared to their male counterparts. The findings from the NHIS dataset indicated a positive association between transportation accessibility to healthcare facilities and better health and food security. Similar to the NCR-Stat results, female respondents from NHIS experienced higher levels of food insecurity. However, younger generations demonstrated positive association with better health, but negative association with food security in NHIS, which is similar to the North Central Region’s (NCR) survey data outcomes. We also found that homeownership, physical activity, higher educational attainment, and higher income levels positively correlate with food sufficiency and better self-reported health for the respondents of both datasets.