Abstract
To examine how food insecurity is related to emerging adults' food behaviours and experiences of neighbourhood safety and discrimination and to identify resources needed to support their health during the COVID-19 outbreak. Rapid response online survey. Participants completed the six-item US Household Food Security Survey Module, a brief measure of food insufficiency, and measures of food behaviours, neighbourhood safety and discrimination. Open-ended questions were used to assess changes in eating behaviours during COVID-19 and needed resources. C-EAT (COVID-19 Eating and Activity over Time) study invitations were sent by email and text message to a longitudinal cohort. A total of 218 emerging adults (mean age = 24·6 (sd 2·0) years, 70·2 % female) completed a survey in April-May 2020 during a stay-at-home order in Minnesota. The past year prevalence of food insecurity was 28·4 %. Among food-insecure respondents, 41·0 % reported both eating less and experiencing hunger due to lack of money in the past month. Food-insecure respondents were less likely than those who were food secure to have fruits/vegetables at home and more likely to have frequent fast-food restaurant meals, feel unsafe in their neighbourhood and experience discrimination during the stay-at-home order. Food-insecure adults reported changes including eating more food prepared at home, eating more take-out restaurant meals and purchasing more energy-dense snacks as a result of events related to COVID-19. Resources most needed to support their health included eligibility for more food assistance and relief funds. Food-insecure emerging adults experience many barriers to maintaining healthful eating patterns during COVID-19.
Highlights
The study examines how food shopping, food preparation and eating behaviours have been influenced by events related to COVID-19 for emerging adults who were food insecure at one or more times in the past year
Emerging adults who were living with children of their own had elevated prevalence of food insecurity in the past year and past month food insufficiency compared with emerging adults without children
As structural racism has resulted in a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 for Black, Indigenous and people of colour[35,36,37], the present study included a novel focus on the co-occurrence of food insecurity with neighbourhood safety concerns and exposure to interpersonal forms of discrimination that may further limit access to healthy food
Summary
The study examines how food shopping, food preparation and eating behaviours have been influenced by events related to COVID-19 for emerging adults who were food insecure at one or more times in the past year. Results of the present study align with and extend prior research in finding that food insecurity is a prevalent problem among diverse emerging adults and common needs during the outbreak for resources such as support for food delivery costs, improved stocking of food in retail stores and increased food assistance benefits[17,23,25].
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