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To identify the characteristics of eligible older Americans who are not receiving food stamps and assess the validity of the Anderson behavioral model for predicting impoverished older adults food stamp use to improve targeting and outreach efforts.

• Aged 65 years and older
• American citizens
• Income less than 100% of the poverty level.

• Non-citizens of the United Stated including legal residents
• Individuals with income>100% of the poverty level
• Aged less than 65 years.

Recruitment and design

A secondary analysis of a random sample of the 2003 American Community Survey available as a Public Use Microdata Set was used.

Statistical Analysis

SPSS 15.0 for Windows was used to conduct analysis. In order to validate the Andersen Behavioral Model, bivariate and multivariate tests were conducted. Chi-square analysis for each of the pre-disposing, enabling, and need characteristics were conducted to assess group differences. To avoid falsely increasing the likelihood of obtaining a significant P-value, the weight variable was re-scaled to have a mean value of 1 for the sub-sample. All variables were based on self-report. 

Timing of Measurements

Secondary analysis of 2003 American Community Survey completed

Dependent Variables

Food stamps

Independent Variables

• Gender
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Age
• English-language skills
• Education
• Welfare
• Supplemental security income
• Poverty level
• Housing tenure
• Limitation in activities of daily living
• Vision or hearing impairment.

Control Variables

American citizenship

 

• Initial N: 14,724
  • 2,796 recipients
  • 11,928 non-recipients
• Attrition (final N): 14,724
• Age: Aged 65 years and older
• Ethnicity:
  • 13,665 non-Hispanic
  • 1,059 Hispanic
• Other relevant demographics:
  • 2,662 African American
  • 4,198 male
  • 10,526 female
• Location: Nationally representative survey.

Analysis of Predisposing, Enabling and Need Characteristics Associated with FSP Utilization Among Poor Older Americans

Variables	Total (N)	FSP Use (%)	P
Gender  Male  Female	4,198 10,526	16.4 20.4	<0.001
Ethnicity  Not Hispanic  Hispanic	13,665 1,059	17.9 31.0	<0.001
Race  Not African American  African American	12,062 2,662	16.5 30.1	<0.001
Age (years)  65-74  75-84  85+	6,556 5,881 2,227	24.0 16.8 11.1	<0.001
English-language Skills Speaks English at home Speaks English as 2nd language, very well Speaks English not well or not at all	12,699 1,180 845	17.5 19.2 36.1	<0.001
Citizenship US Citizen by birth Citizen through naturalization	13,487 1,237	17.9 29.5	<0.001
No children 1 or more children	13,747 977	17.8 37.2	<0.001
No welfare received Welfare received	14,373 351	18.3 57.5	<0.001
Supplemental Security Income  No  Yes	12,881 1,843	14.5 51.3	<0.001
Poverty Quartiles  0% to 24%  25% to 49%  50% to 74%  75% to 100%	4,627 2,034 7,419 644	6.5 13.2 19.9 23.1	<0.001
Housing Tenure  Rented for cash rent  Owned/mortgage  Owned/paid off Occupied without pay	4,627 2,034 7,419 644	32.4 15.7 10.4 17.3	<0.001
Limitation in activities of daily living  Yes  No	2,156 12,568	27.2 17.8	<0.001
Severe vision or hearing difficulty  Yes  No	3,351 11,373	24.3 17.8	<0.001

Other Findings

Logistic Analysis of FSP Utilization Among Older Americans

• Female 1.32 P<0.001
• Hispanic 1.23 P=0.02
• Education, primary 1.64 P<0.001
• Children present at home 2.51 P<0.001
• Severe vision or hearing difficulty 1.18 P=0.003
• Household income <25% of poverty line 1.00
• Household income 75% to 99% of poverty line 2.79 P<0.001.

Of older Americans living in poverty, one in five was receiving food stamps. Food stamp utilization rates were higher among female, Hispanic, and African American respondents. Prevalence rates decreased with age. Having a disability was associated with higher rates of food stamp utilization. Those who did not speak English well had twice the rates of food stamp use as those who spoke English at home.  Individuals with less education were more likely to utilize food stamps. Older adults living below 25% of the poverty line had less than one third the utilization rates as those living between 75% and 99% of the poverty line. 

Two factors may result in the exclusion of some eligible older adults from the sample. Some legal immigrants are eligible for food stamps whereas other are not. All non-citizens were excluded from the analysis. The sample was restricted to those with gross household incomes under the poverty line. 11% percent of food stamp recipients have gross incomes over 100% of the poverty line, thus a minority of eligible older adults may have been excluded. The ACS does not include information on financial or vehicle assets, therefore, some of the respondents may not be eligible for food stamps due to their assets. Findings that the younger cohort had almost three rimes the odds of food stamp utilization compared to older adults could be due to a potential negative perspective held among the older cohort towards use or dependence on social services/welfare such as food stamps. Strategies for improving food stamp use include community education, mobile and satellite food stamp offices in lower income neighborhoods, improvements in the application process, innovation outreach programs and home visits.

Industry:

Royal Bank of Canada Graduste Research Fellowship in Applied Social Work