Socioeconomic Determinants of Household Food Insecurity in Badghis Province, Afghanistan: An Ordinal Logistic Regression Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66546/aijs.v2i3.82Keywords:
Food insecurity, household, occupation, ordinal logistic regression, cross-sectional studyAbstract
Food insecurity (FI) is a major public health problem in low- and middle-income countries, but evidence from male-headed peri-urban households in fragile settings is limited. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence and severity of household FI and examined associations with education, occupation, and age using multivariable ordinal logistic regression. We conducted a cross-sectional survey in Badghis province, Afghanistan, among 235 male-headed households. We assessed FI using a validated 9-item scale (Cronbach's α = 0.825). Because item distributions were non-normal (Shapiro-Wilk and Kolmogorov-Smirnov p < 0.01), we used non-parametric and regression-based analyses. We explored associations using Spearman's correlation and modeled them across 4 FI categories. We tested model assumptions with the Brant test, variance inflation factors, and bootstrapping (1,000 iterations). Moderate-to-severe FI was present in 86.9% of households, 42.6% had severe FI, and only 5.5% were food secure. FI severity was negatively associated with education (ρ = −0.571, p < 0.01) and occupation (ρ = −0.592, p < 0.01). The proportional odds assumption was met (χ2 = 4.218, p = 0.377). Higher education decreased the odds of severe FI (OR = 0.224, 95% CI: 0.134–0.374, p < 0.001), as did government employment (OR = 0.094, 95% CI: 0.045–0.197, p < 0.001). Older age was associated with the risk of FI (OR = 2.428, 95% CI: 1.021–3.606, p = 0.043). The model had a good explanatory power (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.472), and the bootstrap analysis confirmed the stability of the estimates. The results show a very high burden of FI and strong socioeconomic disparities. The cross-sectional design limits causal inference.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Abdul Naser Orfany, Abdul Qasim Khadm, Spinghar Hanifi (Author)
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