IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/apecpp/v44y2022i2p609-634.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding SNAP use patterns among older adults

Author

Listed:
  • Leanne Giordono
  • David W. Rothwell
  • Stephanie Grutzmacher
  • Mark Edwards

Abstract

Participation rates by older adults in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have increased since 2010 but remain lower than other groups despite high food insecurity. This study examines patterns of SNAP participation among older adults aged 51–69 years. Using longitudinal SNAP administrative data from Oregon (2014–2018), we find that older adults with long‐term SNAP receipt (>55 months) represent the majority of this group at any given time, suggesting that lower participation rates likely reflect challenges of take‐up, rather than persistence. But younger cohorts (ages 51–59) experience lower persistence than older cohorts (ages 60–69), suggesting that approaching retirement presents a distinct set of challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Leanne Giordono & David W. Rothwell & Stephanie Grutzmacher & Mark Edwards, 2022. "Understanding SNAP use patterns among older adults," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(2), pages 609-634, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:apecpp:v:44:y:2022:i:2:p:609-634
    DOI: 10.1002/aepp.13228
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13228
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/aepp.13228?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jacob Alex Klerman & Caroline Danielson, 2011. "The transformation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 863-888, September.
    2. repec:mpr:mprres:2518 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Esa Eslami & Joshua Leftin & Mark Strayer, 2012. "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation Rates: Fiscal Year 2010 (Summary)," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 8f086f14b06b47838261a533e, Mathematica Policy Research.
    4. Oliveira, Victor & Prell, Mark & Tiehen, Laura & Smallwood, David, 2018. "Design Issues in USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Looking Ahead by Looking Back," Economic Research Report 276253, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    5. Stephanie Riegg Cellini & Signe-Mary McKernan & Caroline Ratcliffe, 2008. "The dynamics of poverty in the United States: A review of data, methods, and findings," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 577-605.
    6. James Mabli & James C. Ohls, 2012. "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Dynamics and Employment Transitions: The Role of Employment Instability," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 34(1), pages 187-213.
    7. David C. Ribar & Marilyn Edelhoch & Qiduan Liu, 2008. "Watching the Clocks: The Role of Food Stamp Recertification and TANF Time Limits in Caseload Dynamics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(1).
    8. Ann Huff Stevens, 1999. "Climbing out of Poverty, Falling Back in: Measuring the Persistence of Poverty Over Multiple Spells," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(3), pages 557-588.
    9. repec:mpr:mprres:7603 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Mary Jo Bane & David T. Ellwood, 1986. "Slipping into and out of Poverty: The Dynamics of Spells," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 21(1), pages 1-23.
    11. James Mabli & James C. Ohls, 2012. "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Dynamics and Employment Transitions: The Role of Employment Instability," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 34(1), pages 187-213.
    12. Dean Jolliffe & James P. Ziliak (ed.), 2008. "Income volatility and Food Assistance in the United States," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number ivfa, December.
    13. Esa Eslami & Joshua Leftin & Mark Strayer, 2012. "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation Rates: Fiscal Year 2010," Mathematica Policy Research Reports b8466bca88894ddb9414bf316, Mathematica Policy Research.
    14. repec:mpr:mprres:7602 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Rebecca M. Blank, 1999. "What Goes Up Must Come Down? Explaining Recent Changes in Public Assistance Caseloads," JCPR Working Papers 78, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    16. Erik Scherpf & Benjamin Cerf, 2019. "Local Labor Demand and Program Participation Dynamics: Evidence from New York SNAP Administrative Records," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(2), pages 394-425, March.
    17. Signe‐Mary McKernan & Caroline Ratcliffe, 2005. "Events that Trigger Poverty Entries and Exits," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 86(s1), pages 1146-1169, December.
    18. Scherpf, Erik, 2013. "The Path to SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Dynamics Among Young Adults," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150349, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stacy Dickert‐Conlin & Katie Fitzpatrick & Brian Stacy & Laura Tiehen, 2021. "The Downs and Ups of the SNAP Caseload: What Matters?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(3), pages 1026-1050, September.
    2. Sheila Mammen & Elizabeth Dolan & Sharon Seiling, 2015. "Explaining the Poverty Dynamics of Rural Families Using an Economic Well-Being Continuum," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 434-450, September.
    3. Yunhee Chang & Jinhee Kim & Swarn Chatterjee, 2018. "Health Care Expenditures, Financial Stability, and Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)," Papers 1811.05421, arXiv.org.
    4. Peter Ganong & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 2018. "The Decline, Rebound, and Further Rise in SNAP Enrollment: Disentangling Business Cycle Fluctuations and Policy Changes," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 153-176, November.
    5. Catherine Pollak & Bernard Gazier, 2008. "L'apport des analyses longitudinales dans la connaissance des phénomènes de pauvreté et d'exclusion sociale : un survey de la littérature étrangère," Post-Print hal-00393322, HAL.
    6. Eunkyoung Kim & Soonman Kwon, 2021. "The effect of catastrophic health expenditure on exit from poverty among the poor in South Korea," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 482-497, March.
    7. Grodner, Andrew & Kniesner, Thomas J. & Bishop, John A., 2011. "Social Interactions in the Labor Market," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 6(4), pages 265-366, September.
    8. D. Ribar & Christopher A. Swann, 2014. "If at first you don't succeed: applying for and staying on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(27), pages 3339-3350, September.
    9. Andriopoulou, Eirini & Tsakloglou, Panos, 2011. "The Determinants of Poverty Transitions in Europe and the Role of Duration Dependence," IZA Discussion Papers 5692, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Iryna Kyzyma, 2020. "How Poor Are the Poor? Looking beyond the Binary Measure of Income Poverty," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(4), pages 525-549, December.
    11. Tammy Leonard & Wenhua Di, 2014. "Is Household Wealth Sustainable? An Examination of Asset Poverty Reentry After an Exit," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 131-144, June.
    12. Francesco Devicienti & Valentina Gualtieri & Mariacristina Rossi, 2014. "The Persistence Of Income Poverty And Lifestyle Deprivation: Evidence From Italy," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 246-278, July.
    13. Philippe Kerm, 2002. "How much low income turnover is there in Belgium?," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 341-363, December.
    14. Jenkins, Stephen P., 2011. "Has the Instability of Personal Incomes been Increasing?," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 218, pages 33-43, October.
    15. Arnstein Aassve & Simon Burgess & Matt Dickson & Carol Propper, 2005. "Modelling Poverty by not Modelling Poverty: An Application of a Simultaneous Hazards Approach to the UK," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 05/134, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    16. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4994 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Asena Caner & Ed Wolff, 2002. "Asset Poverty in the United States, 1984-1999: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics," Microeconomics 0209002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Prieto Suarez, Joaquin, 2021. "Poverty traps and affluence shields: modelling the persistence of income position in Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 110719, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Justine Hastings & Ryan Kessler & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2021. "The Effect of SNAP on the Composition of Purchased Foods: Evidence and Implications," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 277-315, August.
    20. Rolf Aaberge & Magne Mogstad, 2006. "On the Definition and Measurement of Chronic Poverty," ICER Working Papers 36-2006, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    21. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10594 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Iryna Kyzyma, 2014. "Changes in the Patterns of Poverty Duration in Germany, 1992–2009," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(S2), pages 305-331, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:apecpp:v:44:y:2022:i:2:p:609-634. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2040-5804 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.