In countries with wide income differentials, food insecurity leads to substantial changes in everyday food practices and to poor dietary and mental health. Less is known about consequences of food budget pressure in affluent populations and in social-democratic welfare societies with narrower income differentials. This paper describes relations between pressure on household food budgets and demographic factors in Denmark. It asks how budgetary constraint relates to life satisfaction and dietary health and how these relationships are affected when people adapt their food practices to manage pressure on budgets. Data from a representative 2015 survey of Danish households are employed. Levels of food budget pressure vary with income and household composition and are negatively associated with life satisfaction and dietary health. We find a sequence of food practice adaptations where changes in food quality and hospitality, and seeking external help were being made when adjustments to food provisioning and kitchen practices were proving to be insufficient. We conclude that in affluent social-democratic welfare societies pressure on food budgets also has negative impacts on life satisfaction and health. Food budget pressure should be monitored in the future and addressed in public health policy.
AlkonAHBlockDMooreK, et al. (2013) Foodways of the urban poor. Geoforum48: 126–135.
2.
AshbySKleveSMcKechnieR, et al. (2016) Measurement of the dimensions of food insecurity in developed countries: a systematic literature review. Public Health Nutrition19(16): 2887–2896.
3.
BatesBRobertsCLeppsH, et al. (2017) The Food & You Survey Wave 4. Combined Report for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. London: Food Standards Agency.
4.
BickelGNordMPriceC, et al. (2000) Guide to Measuring Household Food Secruity. Alexandria: United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service.
5.
BocquierAVieuxFLioretS, et al. (2015) Socio-economic characteristics, living conditions and diet quality are associated with food insecurity in France. Public Health Nutrition18(16): 2952–2961.
6.
BorchAKjærnesU (2016) The prevalence and risk of food insecurity in the Nordic Region: Preliminary results. Journal of Consumer Policy39(2): 261–274.
7.
BurnsCCookKMavoaH (2013) Role of expendable income and price in food choice by low income families. Appetite71: 209–217.
8.
CanvinKMarttilaABurstromB, et al. (2009) Tales of the unexpected? Hidden resilience in poor households in Britain. Social Science and Medicine69(2): 238–245.
9.
Coleman-JensenA (2010) US food insecurity status: Toward a refined definition. Social Indicators Research95(2): 215–230.
10.
Coleman-JensenARabbittMPGregoryCA (2016) Household Food Security in the United States in 2015, ERR-215. Washington: United States Department of Agriculture.
11.
CsikszentmihalyiM (1997) Living Well. The psychology of everyday life. London: Orion Books Ltd.
12.
CsikszentmihalyiMHunterJ (2003) Happiness in everyday life: The uses of experience sampling. Journal of Happiness Studies4: 185–199.
13.
DarmonNDrewnowskiA (2008) Does social class predict diet quality?The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition87(5): 1107–1117.
14.
DevineCMJastranMJabsJ, et al. (2006) ‘A lot of sacrifices:’ work-family spillover and the food choice coping strategies of low-wage employed parents. Social Science & Medicine63(10): 2591–2603.
15.
DowlerE (1997) Budgeting for food on a low income in the UK: The case of lone-parent families. Food Policy22(5): 405–417.
16.
DowlerEAO’ConnorD (2012) Rights-based approaches to addressing food poverty and food insecurity in Ireland and UK. Social Science and Medicine74(1): 44–51.
17.
Esping-AndersenG (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.
FolkmanSLazarusRSDunkel-SchetterC, et al. (1986) Dynamics of a stressful encounter: cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology50(5): 992–1003.
21.
Fødevarestyrelsen, Advisory Board for mad måltider og sundhed. (2018) Anbefalinger til regeringen og en invitation til hele Danmark. Copenhagen: Fødevarestyrelsen.
22.
GadermannAGuhnMZumboB (2012) Estimating ordinal reliability for Likert-type and ordinal item response data: A conceptual, empirical, and practical guide. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation17(3): 1–13.
23.
GrothM VFagtSBrøndstedL (2001) Social determinants of dietary habits in Denmark. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition55: 959–966.
24.
GundersenCZiliakJP (2015) Food insecurity and health outcomes. Health Affairs34(11): 1830–1839.
25.
HadleyCCrooksDL (2012) Coping and the Biosocial Consequences of Food Insecurity in the 21st Century. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology94: 72–94.
26.
HalkierBKatz-GerroTMartensL (2011) Applying practice theory to the study of consumption: Theoretical and methodological considerations. Journal of Consumer Culture11(1): 3–13.
27.
HamelinAMBeaudryMHabichtJP (2002). Characterization of household food insecurity in Quebec: food and feelings. Social Science & Medicine54: 119–132.
28.
HeflinCMSiefertKWilliamsDR (2005) Food insufficiency and women’s mental health: Findings from a 3-year panel of welfare recipients. Social Science and Medicine61(9): 1971–1982.
29.
HibbertsMJohnsonRHudsonK (2012) Common survey sampling techniques. In GideonL. (ed.) Handbook of Survey Methodology for the Social Sciences. New York: Springer, pp. 53–74.
30.
HobfollSE (2010) Conservation of Resources Theory: its implication for stress, health, and resilience. In: FolkmanS (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Stress, Health, and Coping, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 127–147.
31.
HolmL.2013The sociology of Food Consumption. In: MurcottABelascoWJacksonP (eds) The Handbook of Food Research, London: Berg Publishers, pp. 324–337.
32.
JeffreyKAbdalaSQuickA (2015) European social and personal wellbeing. Topline results from round 6 of the European Social Survey. London: City University.
33.
JonesNRVConklinAISuhrckeM, et al. (2014) The growing price gap between more and less healthy foods: Analysis of a novel longitudinal UK dataset. PLoS ONE9(10): e109343.
34.
KaiserMHermsenJ (2015) Food acquisition strategies, food security, and health status among families with children using food pantries. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services96(2): 83–90.
35.
KempsonKMKeenanDPSadaniPS, et al. (2002) Food management practices used by people with limited resources to maintain food sufficiency as reported by nutrition educators. Journal of the American Dietetic Association102(12): 1795–1799.
36.
KneafseyMDowlerELambie-MumfordH, et al. (2013) Consumers and food security: Uncertain or empowered?Journal of Rural Studies, 29(2013): 101–112.
37.
KochMBDavidsenMJuelK (2012) Social ulighed i sundhed, sygelighed og trivsel 2010, og udviklingen siden 1987 [Social Inequality, Morbidity and Wellbeing 2010, Development Since 1987]. Copenhagen: Statens Institut for Folkesundhed, SDU.
38.
KruegerABKahnemanDFischlerC, et al. (2009) Time use and subjective well-being in France and the US. Social Indicators Research93(1): 7–18.
39.
Lambie-MumfordHDowlerE (2014) Rising use of ‘food aid’ in the United Kingdom. British Food Journal116(9): 1418–1425.
40.
Lambie-MumfordHCrossleyDJensenE, et al. (2014) Household Food Security in the UK: A review of food aid. Sheffield: University of Sheffield and Food Ethics Council.
41.
LeungCWMphSEpelES, et al. (2017) Food insecurity is inversely associated with diet quality of lower-income adults. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics114(12): 1943–1953.
42.
ListerR (2004) Poverty. Cambridge: Polity Press.
43.
LundTBHolmLTetensI, et al. (2018) Food insecurity in Denmark - Socio-demographic determinants and associations with eating- and health-related variables. European Journal of Public Health28(2): 283–288.
44.
NielsenAHolmL (2016) Making the most of less. Food, Culture & Society19(1): 71–91.
45.
NielsenALundTBHolmL (2015) The taste of ‘the end of the month’, and how to avoid it: coping with restrained food budgets in a Scandinavian welfare state context. Social Policy and Society14(3): 429–442.
46.
NolanMRikard-BellGMohsinM, et al. (2006) Food insecurity in three socially disadvantaged localities in Sydney, Australia. Health Promotion Journal of Australia17(3): 247–254.
ParlesakATetensIJensenJD, et al. .(2016) Use of linear programming to develop cost-minimized nutritionally adequate health promoting food baskets. PLoS ONE11(10): e0163411.
PfeifferSRitterTHirselandA (2011) Hunger and nutritional poverty in Germany: Quantitative and qualitative empirical insights. Critical Public Health21(4): 417–428.
52.
PinardCSmithTMCallowayEE, et al. (2016) Auxiliary measures to assess factors related to food insecurity: Preliminary testing and baseline characteristics of newly designed hunger-coping scales. Preventive Medicine Reports4: 289–295.
53.
PurdamKGarratEEsmailA (2016). Hungry? Food insecurity, social stigma and embarrassment in the UK. Sociology, 50(6): 1072–1088.
54.
RadimerKLOlsonCMGreeneJC, et al. (1992) Understanding hunger and developing indicators to assess it in women and children. Journal of Nutrition Education24(1): 36S–44S.
55.
SalmondCKingPCramptonP, et al. (2005) NZiDep. A New Zealand Index of Socioeconomic Deprivation for Individuals. Wellington: Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago.
56.
SaxeH (2011) Diet as a healthy and cost-effective instrument in environmental protection. In: NriaguJO (ed.) Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 70–82.
57.
SimmetADepaJTinnemannP, et al. (2017) The dietary quality of food pantry users: A systematic review of existing literature. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 117(4): 563–576.
58.
SmedSTetensILundTB, et al. (2018) The consequences of unemployment on diet composition and purchase behaviour: A longitudinal study from Denmark. Public Health Nutrition21(3): 580–592.
59.
Statistics Denmark (2015). LIVS2: Livskvalitet Efter Tilfredshed, Score, OMRÅDE, ALDER OG KØN athttp://www.statistikbanken.dk/10565(accessed and extracted 23 October 2018)
60.
Sundhedsstyrelsen (2014) Danskernes Sundhed - Den Nationale Sundhedsprofil 2013[National health profile, Denmark 2017]. København: Sundhedsstyrelsen.
61.
Sundhedsstyrelsen (2018) Danskernes Sundhed - Den Nationale Sundhedsprofil 2017 [National health profile, Denmark 2017]. København: Sundhedsstyrelsen.
62.
TarasukVMacleanH (1990). The food problems of low-income single mothers: An ethnographic study. Canadian Home Economics Journal40:76–81.
63.
TarasukVMitchelADachnerN (2014) Household Food Insecurity in Canada 2012. Toronto: PROOF.
64.
ToftUKristoffersenLLauC, et al. (2007) The Dietary Quality Score: validation and association with cardiovascular risk factors: the Inter99 study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition61(2): 270–278.
65.
VallgårdaS (2011) Addressing individual behaviours and living conditions: Four Nordic public health policies. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health39(6 Suppl): 6–10.
66.
WardeA (2013) What sort of practice is eating? In: ShoveESpurlingN (eds) Sustainable Practices: Social Theory and Climate Change. Oxon: Routledge, pp. 17–30.
67.
WardeA (2016) The Practice of Eating. Cambridge: Polity.
68.
WhitakerRCPhillipsSMOrzolSM (2006) Food insecurity and the risks of depression and anxiety in mothers and behavior problems in their preschool-aged children. Pediatrics118(3): e859–e868.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
