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Sociodemographic Correlates of Food Insecurity in Students Attending a Private University: A Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study

Background: Food insecurity is thought to be a prevalent yet misunderstood problem among college/university students. There is limited evidence regarding the prevalence of food insecurity in this population, and even less among private institutions of higher education. Food insecurity in college/uni...

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Autores principales: Lankford, Danielle, Bernstein, Jessica, Green, Angelica, Mikati, Nadine, Petrosky, Stephanie N, Jacobs, Robin J
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cureus 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9548405/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36249612
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.28987
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author Lankford, Danielle
Bernstein, Jessica
Green, Angelica
Mikati, Nadine
Petrosky, Stephanie N
Jacobs, Robin J
author_facet Lankford, Danielle
Bernstein, Jessica
Green, Angelica
Mikati, Nadine
Petrosky, Stephanie N
Jacobs, Robin J
author_sort Lankford, Danielle
collection PubMed
description Background: Food insecurity is thought to be a prevalent yet misunderstood problem among college/university students. There is limited evidence regarding the prevalence of food insecurity in this population, and even less among private institutions of higher education. Food insecurity in college/university students can have harmful effects on students’ academic performance and health. The aim of this study was thus to examine food security among college/university students and assess variables which may be associated with it. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected during October-November 2021 from undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at a large private university in Florida, United States using an anonymous, self-administered online questionnaire that included the Validate U.S. Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Six-item index and select sociodemographic variables. Point-biserial correlation coefficient analysis was conducted to identify correlations between the scores on the U.S. Household Food Security Six-item Index and sociodemographic variables. Data were analyzed using SPSS v.27 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results: Among the 1,316 students who completed the questionnaire, 34% (n=447) reported being “food insecure” (scores between 2 and 6), with higher scores indicating more low food security. In addition, there was a weak but statistically significant correlation between identifying as a first-generation college/university student and greater food insecurity. Conversely, current employment and receiving financial aid from family were both weakly, yet statistically significantly correlated with less food insecurity. Conclusion: Results from this study may help raise awareness regarding university students at risk for low food security and understand certain socioeconomic variables associated with high levels of food insecurity. More research may be needed to help direct focused intervention efforts such as food assistance programs and on-campus food pantries to ameliorate food insecurity in college/university students. 
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spelling pubmed-95484052022-10-14 Sociodemographic Correlates of Food Insecurity in Students Attending a Private University: A Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study Lankford, Danielle Bernstein, Jessica Green, Angelica Mikati, Nadine Petrosky, Stephanie N Jacobs, Robin J Cureus Public Health Background: Food insecurity is thought to be a prevalent yet misunderstood problem among college/university students. There is limited evidence regarding the prevalence of food insecurity in this population, and even less among private institutions of higher education. Food insecurity in college/university students can have harmful effects on students’ academic performance and health. The aim of this study was thus to examine food security among college/university students and assess variables which may be associated with it. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected during October-November 2021 from undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at a large private university in Florida, United States using an anonymous, self-administered online questionnaire that included the Validate U.S. Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Six-item index and select sociodemographic variables. Point-biserial correlation coefficient analysis was conducted to identify correlations between the scores on the U.S. Household Food Security Six-item Index and sociodemographic variables. Data were analyzed using SPSS v.27 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results: Among the 1,316 students who completed the questionnaire, 34% (n=447) reported being “food insecure” (scores between 2 and 6), with higher scores indicating more low food security. In addition, there was a weak but statistically significant correlation between identifying as a first-generation college/university student and greater food insecurity. Conversely, current employment and receiving financial aid from family were both weakly, yet statistically significantly correlated with less food insecurity. Conclusion: Results from this study may help raise awareness regarding university students at risk for low food security and understand certain socioeconomic variables associated with high levels of food insecurity. More research may be needed to help direct focused intervention efforts such as food assistance programs and on-campus food pantries to ameliorate food insecurity in college/university students.  Cureus 2022-09-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9548405/ /pubmed/36249612 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.28987 Text en Copyright © 2022, Lankford et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Public Health
Lankford, Danielle
Bernstein, Jessica
Green, Angelica
Mikati, Nadine
Petrosky, Stephanie N
Jacobs, Robin J
Sociodemographic Correlates of Food Insecurity in Students Attending a Private University: A Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study
title Sociodemographic Correlates of Food Insecurity in Students Attending a Private University: A Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study
title_full Sociodemographic Correlates of Food Insecurity in Students Attending a Private University: A Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study
title_fullStr Sociodemographic Correlates of Food Insecurity in Students Attending a Private University: A Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study
title_full_unstemmed Sociodemographic Correlates of Food Insecurity in Students Attending a Private University: A Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study
title_short Sociodemographic Correlates of Food Insecurity in Students Attending a Private University: A Cross-Sectional, Descriptive Study
title_sort sociodemographic correlates of food insecurity in students attending a private university: a cross-sectional, descriptive study
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9548405/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36249612
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.28987
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