Documentation
Overview of Surveys
This page provides information about the following surveys:
Current Population Survey Food
Security Supplement (CPS-FSS)
The Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS)
is the source of national and State-level statistics on food
insecurity used in USDA's annual reports on household food
security. The CPS is a monthly labor force survey of about
50,000 households conducted by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of
Labor Statistics. Once each year, after answering the labor force
questions, the same households are asked a series of questions (the
Food Security Supplement) about food security, food expenditures,
and use of food and nutrition assistance programs. Food security
data have been collected by the CPS-FSS each year since 1995.
Data Files
Public-use household-level CPS-FSS data files are available for
each year, beginning in 1995, through the DataFerrett
system of the U.S. Census Bureau, on CD-ROM from the U.S.
Census Bureau in ASCII format, or, beginning in 2010, from
downloads via FTP from the
Census Bureau.
- The DataFerrett system at the U.S. Census Bureau may be used to
download data or to carry out tabulations online. The documentation
on the DataFerrett site is limited; more detailed documentation,
including a full data dictionary, copy of the questionnaire, and
user notes, can be downloaded from the Census Bureau's
website.
- Alternatively, data for 1995-2009 may be purchased from the
U.S. Census Bureau on CD-ROM by calling the Customer Service Center
at (301) 763-4636.
- Beginning with the 2010 survey, data and documentation may be
downloaded via FTP from the
Census Bureau.
- As of 2010, replicate weights to support balanced repeated
replication variance estimates are available. The replicate
weight data file and usage instructions are available for download
from the U.S. Census
Bureau.
Four data sets that complement those available from the Census
Bureau are available for download on the ERS website. These
are available as ASCII uncompressed or zipped files. The
purpose and appropriate use of these additional data files are
described below:
1) CPS 1995 Revised Food Security Status data--This file
provides household food security scores and food security status
categories that are consistent with procedures and variable naming
conventions introduced in 1996. This includes the "common screen"
variables to facilitate comparisons of prevalence rates across
years. This file must be matched to the 1995 CPS Food Security
Supplement public-use data file. To download the technical
documentation, click here
.
2) CPS 1998 Children's and 30-day Food Security data--Subsequent
to the release of the April 1999 CPS-FSS public-use data file, USDA
developed two additional food security scales to describe aspects
of food security conditions in interviewed households not captured
by the 12-month household food security scale. This file provides
three food security variables (categorical, raw score, and scale
score) for each of these scales along with household identification
variables to allow the user to match this supplementary data file
to the CPS-FSS April 1998 data file. To download the technical
documentation, click
here .
3) CPS 1999 Children's and 30-day Food Security data--Subsequent
to the release of the April 1999 CPS-FSS public-use data file, USDA
developed two additional food security scales to describe aspects
of food security conditions in interviewed households not captured
by the 12-month household food security scale. This file provides
three food security variables (categorical, raw score, and scale
score) for each of these scales along with household identification
variables to allow the user to match this supplementary data file
to the CPS-FSS April 1999 data file. To download the technical
documentation, click
here .
4) CPS 2000 30-day Food Security data--Subsequent to the release
of the September 2000 CPS-FSS public-use data file, USDA developed
a revised 30-day CPS Food Security Scale. This file provides three
food security variables (categorical, raw score, and scale score)
for the 30-day scale along with household identification variables
to allow the user to match this supplementary data file to the
CPS-FSS September 2000 data file. To download the technical
documentation, click here
.
Note that all downloaded files, either from the Census Bureau or
the ERS website, are large raw data files--one record per
interviewed household or person--not tables of statistics.
Knowledge of the subject matter, survey methods, survey data
format, and data analysis is required to use the files. For
statistical summaries and technical reports that are based on these
data, see the Readings under the topic Food Security in the
U.S. The technical documentation/user notes and questionnaires are
available for each file of the CPS-FSS and will facilitate the
appropriate use of the data for each of the years. The notes and
questionnaires are not identical across years.
Release Dates
CPS-FSS data are released approximately nine months after the
survey is completed, following quality assurance checks by the
Census Bureau and ERS. Data are currently released in early
September.
Early Childhood Longitudinal
Survey, Birth Cohort of 2001 (ECLS-B)
The ECLS-B, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education,
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), followed a
nationally representative sample of approximately 14,000 children
born in 2001 from birth through kindergarten entry. Food security
information was collected in parent surveys in several waves of the
survey. Food security data are in the main data files available
from National Center for Education Statistics.
Early Childhood Longitudinal
Survey, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K)
The ECLS-K, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education,
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), followed a
nationally representative sample of approximately 22,000 children
from kindergarten through eighth grade. One purpose of the program
was to provide data to test hypotheses about the effects of a wide
range of family, school, community, and individual variables on
children's development, early learning, and early performance in
school.
Several waves of the ECLS-K included the Food Security Core
Module in surveys of the parents of children in the study. Food
security data were collected in the spring parent interviews when
the children were in kindergarten (Round 2, 1999), 3rd grade (Round
5, 2002), and 5th grade (Round 6, 2004) and in the fall parent
interview when the children were in grade 8 (Round 7, 2006).
Data on the food security of households with children in the
ECLS-K are provided in the NCES public-use data for Round 5, and
Round 6, and the forthcoming Round 7. The base year (Round 2) Food
Security File was prepared by ERS to provide corresponding food
security data for households interviewed in Round 2.
Data Files
The ECLS-K Food Security File provides both interval-level and
categorical measures of each household's food security status. The
Food Security File matches to the ECLS-K 1998-99 Child Data File by
child identification number (CHILDID). The Child Data File provides
data on a broad array of topics about kindergarten-age children and
their families.
National Health Interview Survey
(NHIS)
The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is the principal
source of information on the health of the civilian
noninstitutionalized population of the United States and is
conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics
(NCHS). In 2011 and 2012, USDA sponsored the inclusion of the
10-item adult 30-day food security module on the NHIS. Given
the extensive health information collected in the NHIS, these data
are a rich source for examining both the effects of long-term
health problems and disability on food insecurity as well as the
effects of food insecurity on more immediate health outcomes. The
2011 public-use family data file available on the NHIS website
includes responses to each of the 10 items plus three recodes that
summarize adult food security status for the family. The recodes in
the NHIS use the standard USDA food security classifications based
on the 10 adult items.
Panel Study of Income Dynamics
(PSID) Food Security Files
The PSID is an ongoing longitudinal survey, begun in 1968, of a
representative sample of U.S. individuals and their families. Food
security information was collected in the following surveys:
- Child Development Supplement (CDS-I)--In 1997,
PSID supplemented its core data collection with data on parents and
their 0- to 12-year-old children, the Child Development Supplement
(CDS). The 1997 PSID-CDS survey of the children's primary
caregivers included the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module.
Data (responses to individual food security questions as well as
composite household food security status variables) are available
from the PSID website at the
University of Michigan.
- PSID 1999 Family Survey--The PSID 1999 family
survey included the 18 questions in the U.S. Household Food
Security Survey Module. The PSID 1999 Family Food Security Status
Data File, along with documentation (in the same zipped file), can
be downloaded from the PSID website at the University of Michigan.
(It is one of the "Packaged Supplemental Data and Documentation"
files.) Two sets of composite household food security status
variables are provided, one based on the Household Food Security
Scale and the other (for families with children) based on the
Children's Food Security Scale. The PSID 1999 Family Data File to
which the food security file matches, along with many earlier PSID
files for the same persons and documentation and other information
on the study, are also available from the PSID website.
- PSID 2001 and 2003 Family Surveys--The PSID
2001 and 2003 family surveys included the U.S. Household Food
Security Survey Module. Responses to the food security questions
are provided in the main data files, available from the PSID website at the University of Michigan.
Composite household food security status variables are not
provided. Users will need to calculate them following procedures
outlined in the Guide to Measuring Household Food Security, Revised
2000 .
Survey of Income and Program
Participation (SIPP)
The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 1996 and
2001 Wave 8 Food Security Data Files contain summary food security
status information for each household that was interviewed in the
SIPP Wave 8 Topical Modules on Adult Well-Being, conducted in 1998
and 2003, respectively. The food security status variables were
calculated based on responses to five questions from the U.S. Food
Security Survey Module that were included in the SIPP Topical
Modules. The food security questions refer to the 4 months prior to
the survey. The SIPP Wave 8 Food Security Data Files match to the
main SIPP Wave 8 Topical Module Data Files at the household level.
The main SIPP Wave 8 data files, available from the U.S. Census Bureau, contain basic
demographic, economic, and social characteristics data for each
member of interviewed households.
Survey of Program Dynamics
(SPD)
The Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD) was an annual survey,
beginning in 1997, of households that had been interviewed
periodically during several earlier years in the Survey of Income
and Program Participation (SIPP). The SPD was designed specifically
to monitor and assess outcomes of welfare program changes that
started in 1996. It included questions on a broad array of topics
including income, employment, use of food and nutrition assistance
programs, and receipt of cash welfare. Beginning in 1998 and
continuing in subsequent years, the SPD included the U.S. Household
Food Security Survey Module.
The SPD food security status files, available for 1998, 1999,
2000, 2001, and 2002, contain summary food security status
information for households interviewed in the SPD. The food
security status variables were calculated by ERS based on responses
to the questions in the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module
included in the SPD. The food security status files match to the
main SPD data files for the respective years at the household level
and are intended to be used in conjunction with those files. The
main SPD data files, available from the U.S. Census Bureau, contain data on
demographic, economic, and social characteristics of households and
household members, focusing on eligibility for and use of public
assistance programs. The main data files for all years except 1999
may be purchased from the U.S. Census Bureau on CD-ROM by calling
the Customer Service Center at (301) 763-4636. Data for all years
except 1998 are available through the Census Bureau's Data Ferrett
system.