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Food Security Characteristics Vary for Undergraduate and Graduate Students at a Midwest University

The study objective was to determine prevalence of food insecurity and its associations with socioecological model (SEM) characteristics for undergraduate and graduate students. An online questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of students aged 18–34 at a Midwestern university. Of the...

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Autores principales: Hiller, Molly B., Winham, Donna M., Knoblauch, Simon T., Shelley, Mack C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8197841/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34073623
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115730
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author Hiller, Molly B.
Winham, Donna M.
Knoblauch, Simon T.
Shelley, Mack C.
author_facet Hiller, Molly B.
Winham, Donna M.
Knoblauch, Simon T.
Shelley, Mack C.
author_sort Hiller, Molly B.
collection PubMed
description The study objective was to determine prevalence of food insecurity and its associations with socioecological model (SEM) characteristics for undergraduate and graduate students. An online questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of students aged 18–34 at a Midwestern university. Of the 938 responses, 675 were complete for analysis. Outcome measures included demographics, food security level, housing, food access barriers, coping strategies, and food assistance program usage. Results found that predictors associated with undergraduate food insecurity included non-White race, receipt of financial aid, lower self-reported health status, living off-campus, employment, and food cost (p < 0.001). Graduate student food insecurity was associated with Asian self-identification, employment, food cost, no time to prepare foods, and lack of foods for dietary needs (p < 0.001). Students with food insecurity were more likely to buy cheap food (p < 0.001). Almost 50% of food-insecure undergraduates asked friends or family to help buy food. Food-insecure students were more likely to want information on meal preparation and budgeting. More graduate students were likely to know of and use food pantries. Overall, food insecurity was higher among undergraduate than graduate students. Universities should consider institutional and policy changes tailored to the separate populations to mitigate the prevalence of campus food insecurity.
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spelling pubmed-81978412021-06-14 Food Security Characteristics Vary for Undergraduate and Graduate Students at a Midwest University Hiller, Molly B. Winham, Donna M. Knoblauch, Simon T. Shelley, Mack C. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The study objective was to determine prevalence of food insecurity and its associations with socioecological model (SEM) characteristics for undergraduate and graduate students. An online questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of students aged 18–34 at a Midwestern university. Of the 938 responses, 675 were complete for analysis. Outcome measures included demographics, food security level, housing, food access barriers, coping strategies, and food assistance program usage. Results found that predictors associated with undergraduate food insecurity included non-White race, receipt of financial aid, lower self-reported health status, living off-campus, employment, and food cost (p < 0.001). Graduate student food insecurity was associated with Asian self-identification, employment, food cost, no time to prepare foods, and lack of foods for dietary needs (p < 0.001). Students with food insecurity were more likely to buy cheap food (p < 0.001). Almost 50% of food-insecure undergraduates asked friends or family to help buy food. Food-insecure students were more likely to want information on meal preparation and budgeting. More graduate students were likely to know of and use food pantries. Overall, food insecurity was higher among undergraduate than graduate students. Universities should consider institutional and policy changes tailored to the separate populations to mitigate the prevalence of campus food insecurity. MDPI 2021-05-26 /pmc/articles/PMC8197841/ /pubmed/34073623 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115730 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hiller, Molly B.
Winham, Donna M.
Knoblauch, Simon T.
Shelley, Mack C.
Food Security Characteristics Vary for Undergraduate and Graduate Students at a Midwest University
title Food Security Characteristics Vary for Undergraduate and Graduate Students at a Midwest University
title_full Food Security Characteristics Vary for Undergraduate and Graduate Students at a Midwest University
title_fullStr Food Security Characteristics Vary for Undergraduate and Graduate Students at a Midwest University
title_full_unstemmed Food Security Characteristics Vary for Undergraduate and Graduate Students at a Midwest University
title_short Food Security Characteristics Vary for Undergraduate and Graduate Students at a Midwest University
title_sort food security characteristics vary for undergraduate and graduate students at a midwest university
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8197841/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34073623
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115730
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