Abstract
Venezuela is currently in a difficult social, political, and economic situation that has exposed people to many factors, including socioeconomic disadvantages, food insecurity, and lack of access to healthy and nutritious foods. These factors are associated with low dietary diversity, especially for economically dependent university students. In this study, we aimed to identify the associations between socioeconomic status, food security, and dietary diversity among sociology students at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). This cross-sectional study was conducted between June and November 2016 on a simple random sample of 270 students. Indicators were calculated using data collected by the Mendez-Castellano socioeconomic questionnaire, the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Projects Scale of Food Security adapted and validated for Venezuelans (Cronbach's alpha = 0.898), and the validated dietary diversity scale for individuals. The rate response was 100%. It was observed that most of the sample is located between the socioeconomic status of the rich and middle class (82.6%), presents some degree of food insecurity (85.9%), and maintains a diet with low dietary diversity (54.8%). Our main finding is that the socioeconomic status in the households of those students is not associated with either their food security level or their dietary diversity, but these constructs are related in a significant statistical way. In particular, the odds of a student household having a diverse diet instead of a monotonous diet are 3.92 (95% CI: 2.91; 4.93) times greater for those in food security instead of moderate/severe food insecurity. It is concluded that these students have a multifactorial critical food situation, in which the food right is violated, which could affect their permanence and academic performance.
Highlights
Food security (FS) is a construct defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as “the situation when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life” (FAO, 2020)
About 22.2% of students come from outside Caracas, 18.9% do not live with their family, and only 7% were heads of the family
We found an association between FS3 and DD2
Summary
Food security (FS) is a construct defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as “the situation when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life” (FAO, 2020). FS is commonly assessed using different measurement tools or applying different classification criteria (Shi et al, 2021) It could be classified at different severity levels: low insecurity when a household worries about not having enough food; moderate insecurity when a household sacrifices food quality more frequently; and severe insecurity when a household cuts back on the food quantity or experiences hunger (Lorenzana and Mercado, 2002). An independent study (UCAB, 2020) states that this percentage is higher, especially due to the COVID pandemic, reporting 97% of food insecurity in the population
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