IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v33y2025i1p836-846.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social ties and food insecurity in woman‐headed households

Author

Listed:
  • Andres Silva
  • Maria Isabel Sactic
  • Diego Monteza‐Quiroz
  • Ximena Schmidt Rivera

Abstract

Food insecurity is a global concern, as set in the Sustainable Development Goal 2. Previous research has focused on the demographics and socioeconomic determinants of food insecurity, while little attention has been paid to the role of social ties. Using a national representative survey of Chile, that includes a questionnaire to measure prevalence of food insecurity and 11 social ties, we estimate the prevalence of four groups using a sample of 70,677 households. Then, we focus on the sub‐sample of 29,203 woman‐headed households, who experience the largest food insecurity prevalence. We use a descriptive analysis, followed by a principal component analysis to aggregate 11 social ties in fewer components to assess the associations between social ties and food insecurity and to identify the ties with stronger impact. The results show that woman‐headed households, without a partner, have a prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity of 32.8%, 30.9%, 24.7%, after none, one and two social ties, respectively. This decreasing trend is also observed in woman‐headed households with partners. We also found that the 11 social ties studied are highly correlated among them; they can be explained by two indexes—economic and education components. In particular, we found that economic and educational social ties are associated to a larger effect on food insecurity prevalence. This study provides evidence for policy‐makers regarding investment on social ties to tackle food insecurity.

Suggested Citation

  • Andres Silva & Maria Isabel Sactic & Diego Monteza‐Quiroz & Ximena Schmidt Rivera, 2025. "Social ties and food insecurity in woman‐headed households," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 836-846, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:1:p:836-846
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.3143
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3143
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.3143?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. David Magaña-Lemus & Ariun Ishdorj & C. Parr Rosson & Jorge Lara-Álvarez, 2016. "Determinants of household food insecurity in Mexico," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Esther Duflo & Christopher Udry, 2003. "Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Côte D'ivoire: Social Norms, Separate Accounts and Consumption Choices," Working Papers 857, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    3. Martin, Katie S & Rogers, Beatrice L & Cook, John T & Joseph, Hugh M, 2004. "Social capital is associated with decreased risk of hunger," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 2645-2654, June.
    4. King, Christian, 2017. "Informal assistance to urban families and the risk of household food insecurity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 105-113.
    5. Saeed Nosratabadi & Nesrine Khazami & Marwa Ben Abdallah & Zoltan Lackner & Shahab S. Band & Amir Mosavi & Csaba Mako, 2020. "Social Capital Contributions to Food Security: A Comprehensive Literature Review," Papers 2012.03606, arXiv.org.
    6. Arlette Saint Ville & June Yee Tsun Po & Akankasha Sen & Anh Bui & Hugo Melgar-Quiñonez, 2019. "Food security and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES): ensuring progress by 2030," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(3), pages 483-491, June.
    7. Elena Grimaccia & Alessia Naccarato, 2022. "Food Insecurity in Europe: A Gender Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 649-667, June.
    8. Joseph Dzanja & Mike Christie & Ioan Fazey & Tony Hyde, 2015. "The Role of Social Capital in Rural Household Food Security: The Case Study of Dowa and Lilongwe Districts in Central Malawi," Journal of Agricultural Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 7(12), pages 165-165, November.
    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. Hanna Dudek & Joanna Myszkowska-Ryciak & Agnieszka Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska, 2021. "Profiles of Food Insecurity: Similarities and Differences across Selected CEE Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-19, August.
    2. Denney, Justin T. & Brewer, Mackenzie & Kimbro, Rachel Tolbert, 2020. "Food insecurity in households with young children: A test of contextual congruence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    3. Abda Emam, 2023. "Saudi Fertilizers and Their Impact on Global Food Security: Present and Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-21, May.
    4. Sibane, Boenzemwendé Etienne & Zahonogo, Pam, 2023. "Social Capital Effect on Rural Households' Food and Nutrition Security in North-Central Burkina Faso," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 11(4), October.
    5. Karnik, Harshada & Peterson, Hikaru Hanawa, 2023. "Food security among low-income immigrant households and the role of social capital: A case study of Somali-American households in the Midwestern United States," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    6. Silva, Andres Montes & Astorga, Andres & Fau´ndez, Rodrigo & Santos, Karla, 2022. "The Effect of Social Capital on Food Security Household Head Gender Gap," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322093, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Maurice Mutisya & Moses W. Ngware & Caroline W. Kabiru & Ngianga-bakwin Kandala, 2016. "The effect of education on household food security in two informal urban settlements in Kenya: a longitudinal analysis," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(4), pages 743-756, August.
    8. Carolin Kroeger, 2023. "Heat is associated with short-term increases in household food insecurity in 150 countries and this is mediated by income," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 1777-1786, October.
    9. B Kelsey Jack, "undated". "Market Inefficiencies and the Adoption of Agricultural Technologies in Developing Countries," CID Working Papers 50, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    10. Khan, Mohammed Tajuddin & Kishore, Avinash & Joshi, Pramod K., 2016. "Gender dimensions on farmers’ preferences for direct-seeded rice with drum seeder in India," IFPRI discussion papers 1550, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Kassie, Menale & Fisher, Monica & Muricho, Geoffrey & Diiro, Gracious, 2020. "Women’s empowerment boosts the gains in dietary diversity from agricultural technology adoption in rural Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    12. David W. Olivier, 2018. "A Cropping System for Resource-Constrained Urban Agriculture: Lessons from Cape Town," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Katie Kerstetter & Drew Bonner & Kristopher Cleland & Mia Jesús-Martin & Rachelle Quintanilla & Amy L. Best & Dominique Hazzard & Jordan Carter, 2023. "Social solidarity, social infrastructure, and community food access," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1303-1315, September.
    14. Baland, Jean-Marie & Bequet, Ludovic & Guirkinger, Catherine & Manuel, Clarice, 2024. "Sharing norm, household efficiency and female demand for agency in the Philippines," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    15. Orkhan Sariyev & Tim K. Loos & Manfred Zeller & Tulsi Gurung, 2020. "Women in household decision-making and implications for dietary quality in Bhutan," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-20, December.
    16. Leora Friedberg & Steven Stern, 2014. "Marriage, Divorce, And Asymmetric Information," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1155-1199, November.
    17. Sara A. L. Smaal & Joost Dessein & Barend J. Wind & Elke Rogge, 2021. "Social justice-oriented narratives in European urban food strategies: Bringing forward redistribution, recognition and representation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(3), pages 709-727, September.
    18. Thabang R. Aphane & Chiedza L. Muchopa, 2024. "Income Contribution of Backyard Gardening and its Association with Household Food Security: A Case Study in an Urban Setting," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 14(3), pages 115-124, May.
    19. Emily Beam & Priya Mukherjee & Laia Navarro-Sola, 2022. "Lowering Barriers to Remote Education: Experimental Impacts on Parental Responses and Learning," Working Papers 2022-030, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.

    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:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:1:p:836-846. 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: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    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.