Description
For all persons, GOTSTAMP indicates if the person was authorized to receive food stamps at any time during the previous calendar year. The term "food stamps" is defined as including "a food stamp card or voucher, or cash grants from the state for food." According to the field representative manual, "an authorized person is one whose name appears on a certification card."
NHIS documentation notes "this variable may have limited analytic value at the person level since food stamp authorization is based on a family's economic circumstances." Data users may wish to use variable GOTSTAMPFAM, which indicates whether ANY member of a family was authorized to receive food stamps (1997 to 2010) or SNAP benefits (2011 to present) during the past year.
