Loneliness, Food Poverty, and Perceived Benefits of Communal Food Consumption from a Charity Service

ABSTRACT

In the study, 686 (345 male) patrons of a UK charity communal food service reported their demographic attributes, loneliness, food poverty, and benefits of the service. Food poverty was associated with loneliness. Women reported greater benefits of the service than men. Loneliness and food poverty were greater in middle adulthood and among the unemployed than other groups. Loneliness during middle adulthood and unemployment was associated with forming friendships during visits which may have been motivated by the need for social belonging. Gender, age, and occupation played a role in the benefits of a food charity to redress loneliness and food poverty.

KEYWORDS:

• Charities
• food services
• food poverty
• loneliness

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the patrons of FoodCycle who completed the surveys and the volunteers at FoodCycle.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. FoodCycle uses the term guest to refer to patron.

Additional information

Funding

This work is suported by Institute of Social Inclusion at Keele University.