Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2018, pp. 400--424 Attitudes toward Food Insecurity in the United States Carley Ward, Geoffrey Maruyama,* Lara Jessen, and Wei Song University of Minnesota Lori Kratchmer The Food Group Rob Zeaske Second Harvest Heartland According to a 2017 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) survey, 12.3% of households face food insecurity (FI)—the economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food. Given the pervasiveness of the problem, there is surprisingly little research examining how the general population perceives FI. Is FI expected in all societies? Is it a societal disgrace for individuals in the United States to go hungry? When it occurs, who is responsible? This research drew from existing surveys and practitioner expertise to develop a comprehensive instrument to assess attitudes toward FI. Data were collected in two studies to test a multidi- mensional model developed through examination and categorization of FI-related items. We examined dimensionality of attitudes through exploratory (Study 1, N = 503) and then confirmatory (Study 2, N = 510) factor analysis of representa- tive samples of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) participants. Seven dimensions were identified and related to reported contributions to food organizations and demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, age, and political orientation). Our findings help understanding of attitudes toward FI and can provide antipoverty organizations with information to shape policy, challenge inaccurate perceptions, and develop approaches to address FI. ∗ Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Geoffrey Maruyama, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, 56 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455 [e-mail: geoff@umn.edu]. Carley Ward is now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lara Jessen is now at the Minneapolis Public Schools. 400 DOI: 10.1111/asap.12168 C  2018 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues