Food Insecurity Amongst Urban College Students

Introduction Experiencing food and housing insecurity have been linked to adverse health outcomes, and disproportionately affect marginalized populations. Among Black college students, these insecurities have been linked to poor physical and mental health, including sleep disturbances. Given the significant role of sleep in overall well-being and academic success, it is essential to examine how food and housing insecurity contribute to sleep disturbance in this population. Methods The sample consisted of Black students attending a large predominantly White institute (n = 263, 82.37% female, Mage = 20.3 years, 19.4% low SES). Sleep disturbance was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), with 81.4% of participants classified as having poor sleep based on the established 5-point cutoff. Food insecurity was measured with the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), and housing insecurity was measured by 6 items of the USDA Housing Security Scale. A multiple linear regression model was conducted to examine the relationship between housing and food security status and sleep disturbance. Results The model explained 8.55% of the variance in sleep disturbance (R2=.085, p <.001). Housing insecurity was significantly associated with greater sleep disturbance (B=1.25, p <.05), indicating that housing-insecure participants reported higher sleep disturbance scores compared to their housing-secure peers. Among food security levels, participants classified as moderately food insecure reported significantly higher sleep disturbance scores (B=4.38, p <.05) compared to food-secure participants. Mildly food insecure (B=3.54, p =.104) and severely food insecure (B=2.74, p =.154) participants also reported higher sleep disturbance scores, though this was not statistically significant. In terms of gender, compared to male participants, those identifying as “other” reported significantly higher sleep disturbance scores (B=3.68, p <.01), while females showed higher sleep disturbance scores (B=1.27) approaching statistical significance (p=0.087). Conclusion This study highlights the significant impact of housing insecurity, varying levels of food insecurity on sleep disturbance, and gender-based disparities in sleep health among Black college students. Comprehensive interventions targeting these insecurities are essential to improving sleep outcomes and promoting overall well-being in this population. Support (if any) n/a

BACKGROUND Food insecurity continues to be a risk for college students in the United States. It is associated with numerous problems, such as chronic health conditions, increased stress and anxiety, and a lower grade point average. After COVID-19, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were extended to college-aged students; however, there were some barriers to participation, which persisted such as lack of perceived food insecurity risk, lack of knowledge regarding the SNAP application process, the complexity of determining eligibility, and stigma associated with needing social assistance. A technology-enhanced tool was developed to address these barriers to SNAP enrollment and encourage at-risk college students to apply for SNAP. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to test the usability and acceptability of a web-based SNAP screening tool designed for college-aged students. METHODS College students aged 18-25 years were recruited to participate in 2 rounds of usability testing during fall 2022. Participants tested the prototype of a web-based SNAP screener tool using a standardized think-aloud method. The usability and acceptability of the tool were assessed using a semistructured interview and a 10-item validated System Usability Scale questionnaire. Audio recordings and field notes were systematically reviewed by extracting and sorting feedback as positive or negative comments. System Usability Scale questionnaire data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and sign test. RESULTS A total of 12 students (mean age 21.8, SD 2.8 years; n=6, 50% undergraduate; n=11, 92% female; n=7, 58% Hispanic or Black or African American; n=9, 78% low or very low food security) participated in both rounds of user testing. Round 1 testing highlighted overall positive experiences with the tool, with most participants (10/12) stating that the website fulfills its primary objective as a support tool to encourage college students to apply for SNAP. However, issues related to user interface design, navigation, and wording of some questions in the screening tool were noted. Key changes after round 1 reflected these concerns, including improved design of response buttons and tool logo and improved clarity of screening questions. The overall system usability showed slight, but not statistically significant, improvement between round 1 and round 2 (91.25 vs 92.50; <i>P</i>=.10, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Overall usability findings suggest that this web-based tool was highly usable and acceptable to urban college students and could be an effective and appealing approach as a support tool to introduce college students to the SNAP application process. The findings from this study will inform further development of the tool, which could eventually be disseminated publicly among various college campuses.

Researchers have only recently begun looking at food insecurity on college campuses. Food insecurity is characterized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as limited or uncertain access to nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways due to limited financial resources. Harmony Reppond illustrates this point when writing, “food insecurity for college students can mean running out of food between paychecks, attending campus events in search of food, reducing food intake, purchasing minimally nutritious food that costs less, skipping meals, and deciding between paying for textbooks or food.” Food insecurity is often an invisible condition because of the stigma associated with hunger and poverty. However, the extent and severity of food insecurity on college campuses is alarming. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a literature review and found that college student food insecurity rates exceeded 30% in the majority of published studies. The Hope Center at Temple University conducts an annual survey on student basic needs, which originally covered food and housing insecurity, and has since been expanded to include transportation, childcare, stress, and mental health. Over the last five years this survey has been completed by more than 330,000 students attending 411 colleges and universities, and the Hope Center has found that on average over the last five years 39% of respondents reported being food insecure in the prior 30 days. The rise of student food insecurity is linked to a decrease in public funding for higher education, which in turn has caused a steep increase in tuition rates, combined with more low-income students entering college.

The impact of education on entrepreneurial choice is ambiguous in both theory and empirics. Based on the data from the 2016 China Labour-Force Dynamics Survey, this paper studies the impact of China’s Higher Education Expansion (HEE) policy initiated in 1999 on the entrepreneurial behaviour of urban college students and its transmission mechanism by employing the difference-in-difference approach. The results show that the implementation of the HEE policy has significantly promoted the entrepreneurship of urban college students and the HEE policy stimulates urban college students’ entrepreneurship by decreasing the rate of return to urban college students’ education.

The aim of this study was to assess college students’ food and housing insecurity risk amidst the pandemic. Data were collected through an online survey in the summer of 2020 from 1956 graduate and undergraduate students attending a large, private, urban university in the Midwest, U.S. Food insecurity among students increased (25% before; 29% during COVID) with housing insecurity staying roughly the same (34% before; 36% during COVID). Results indicate certain student groups were at greater risk of basic needs insecurity during the pandemic compared to their counterparts. Results also suggest changes in food and housing insecurity trends. College students are burdened with basic needs insecurity, exacerbated during the pandemic. Institutions need to work toward solutions to address the needs of vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by basic needs insecurity. Recommendations on addressing the basic needs of college students are also provided.

Food Insecurity Among College Students with Disabilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic Krista M Soria (bio) and Vanessa Coca (bio) Over the last several years, scholars have drawn attention to the growing rates of food insecurity among college and university students in the US (Broton & Goldrick-Rab, 2018; The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice [The Hope Center], 2021). Food insecurity is a multifaceted concept commonly defined as the limited availability of nutritious foods, the uncertain ability to acquire nutritious foods, or the inability to acquire nutritious foods (Anderson, 1990). Food insecurity also constitutes interrupted eating patterns or a reduction in the quality of diet due to the lack of resources to access nutritious food (Coleman-Jensen et al., 2020). An estimated 40% of undergraduate students experience food insecurity (The Hope Center, 2021). Although research on food insecurity in college students is expanding, examinations into whether there are different rates of food insecurity by students' demographic characteristics have focused primarily on students' race/ethnicity, age, income or socioeconomic status, and sex or gender (The Hope Center, 2021; Morris et al., 2016; Wood & Harris, 2018). At present, researchers have not focused on food insecurity rates among college students with disabilities. The omission of food insecurity research on college students with disabilities is concerning due to the prevalence of students with disabilities in higher education—nearly one in five undergraduates has a disability (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2021). Due to many forms of oppression, including ableism, racism, classism, and more, students with disabilities encounter more barriers in higher education, leading to reduced degree completion rates (Lett et al., 2020; NCES, 2022). Food insecurity is a factor associated with lower degree completion rates among students and is one of many factors that could exacerbate the existing disparities in degree completion rates (Wolfson et al., 2021). The topic of food insecurity is even more important to examine during the initial semesters of the COVID-19 pandemic when college students experienced significant and sudden financial hardships (Soria et al., 2022; The Hope Center, 2021). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether college students with disabilities had significantly different odds of experiencing food insecurity compared to their peers when controlling for additional demographic variables and COVID-19 experiences. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK We used Glover and colleagues' (2020) conceptual framework for mitigating the equity harms of COVID-19. The model stipulated [End Page 102] that inequitable COVID-19 policies may have generated additional harms to individuals who were already marginalized, oppressed, and disenfranchised prior to the pandemic, including individuals with disabilities. Exacerbated food insecurity rates among marginalized groups (such as students with disabilities) during the pandemic may be a manifestation of pre-existing intersectional forms of oppression (i.e., ableism, racism) coupled with inequitable COVID-19-related policies. Glover et al. cited demographic variables associated with COVID-19 equity harms, including disability, employment, race/ethnicity, gender, and family education, and we used many of those demographic variables in our analysis. METHODOLOGY: INSTRUMENT, SAMPLE, MEASURES, AND ANALYSIS We used data from the 2020 #RealCollege Survey, which was administered to 1.84 million college students at 130 community and technical colleges and 72 four-year colleges in 42 states from September to November 2020. The response rate averaged 10.6% (N = 195,629), although only a smaller subset of 70,210 students who were also enrolled in spring 2020 answered the COVID-19-specific items (Table 1). The survey assessed students' food security using the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA, 2012) 18-item set of questions (full items and methodology for summing the scale are available online via The Hope Center, 2021). The scale had excellent reliability in this study (α = .924) and can be converted to a four-level measure of food security level (i.e., very low, low, marginal, or high; The Hope Center, 2021). However, we dichotomized the results to provide a snapshot of whether students experienced food insecurity (0 = student is food secure [marginal or high food security], 1 = student is food insecure [very low or low food security]). Students reported demographic characteristics, which we converted using effect coding except in the case of dichotomous variables (e.g., full...

P21 College Students Attending Online Programs Have Lower Rates of Food Insecurity than Residential Students

ABSTRACTObjectivesFood insecurity prevalence among US university students is higher than the national average, with minoritized and first‐generation students disproportionately affected. Global and domestic US research has documented the link between food and water insecurity, though research on water insecurity—particularly on college campuses—remains nascent.MethodsAn exploratory study (n = 220) connecting measures of water insecurity, food insecurity, demographic/socioeconomic status, and water‐related psycho‐emotional outcomes in a sample from a large US public university. Tobit regressions were conducted for models using water insecurity scores as outcomes and ordered logistic regression models for psycho‐emotional outcomes associated with water. To assess the relationship between economic stress, water quality concerns and purchasing two generalized structural equation models (GSEM) were conducted. Motivations for purchasing bottled water were elicited in an open‐ended question.ResultsCollege students are experiencing notable resource insecurity, with 43% reporting low to moderate rates of water insecurity and 31% reporting food insecurity, representing above‐the‐national‐average levels of food insecurity. Importantly, students who were food insecure were significantly more likely to be water insecure. A third of students relied on bottled water, with and convenience and water quality concerns being the primary reasons. Economic stress predicted water insecurity scores, frequency of purchasing bottled water, water quality concerns, as well as psycho‐emotional outcomes related to water.ConclusionThese exploratory findings suggest a pattern of risk for water insecurity on university campuses that is potentially concerning and generally consistent with that already well described for food insecurity.

Objective: Recent epidemiological research has found food insecurity to be a growing public health concern among college students. This study investigated food insecurity, mental health, and substance use behaviors among state university undergraduate students. Study Design: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: This was a secondary data analysis of the Student Health Survey. Undergraduate participants (n = 589) completed the paper-based survey, which had an 84% response rate overall. Results: Approximately 38.5% of students were considered food insecure, 24.8% experiencing low food security, and 13.8% experiencing very low food security. Having a diagnosis of depression, experience of depressive symptoms, and marijuana use in the past 30 days were associated with food insecurity. Conclusion and Implications: Food insecurity is a serious health concern for college students. The results of this study indicate collocating food security and counseling services may enhance existing student resources to better support students facing food and nutrition insecurity, substance use, and depression.

In 2013, 49.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households. Of these, 15.8 million were children. As college students are excluded from national surveillance data, it is difficult to characterize the prevalence of food insecurity among this population. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of food insecurity among undergraduate students and what characteristics are associated with food insecurity. Students (18‐24 years) were recruited from the ongoing College Health and Nutrition Assessment Survey at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). A 26‐item online survey was developed by combining the USDA 6‐item Short Form U.S. Household Food Security Survey, the USDA Child Food Security Survey, and 11 UNH‐specific questions related to food access. The survey was administered to all students enrolled in a general nutrition class in fall 2014 (n = 418); response rate=50.5% (n=211, 84% female). Survey results indicated 11.4% of students reported low food security and 6.2% reported marginal food security during their childhood. During the past 12‐months, 12.4% reported experiencing low food security and 5.7% reported marginal food security; 2.8% reported currently or previously receiving food assistance. Students who lived in on‐campus housing were more likely to report food security as compared to those living in off‐campus apartments (86% vs 57%, p<.05); no differences in race, sex, marital status or parents' education were observed between students who were food secure vs. insecure. The findings of this study suggest that food insecurity exists on the UNH campus and further research related to food availability and education is needed. Due to the lack of data, other college campuses may benefit from assessing food insecurity prevalence among students.

This study investigated the academic achievement of college students in relation to their metacognition.Data was collected from a sample of 200 college students of rural and urban areas of Kapurthala district of Punjab state only.Achievement motivation scale by T.R. Sharma (1984) was used to explore the academic achievement motivation and metacognition inventory scale by Punita Govil ( 2003) was used to explore the metacognition of college student.Data was analysed by using t-test and Karl Pearson coefficient of correlation.The main findings of the study were as follows: the male college students differed significantly from female college students with respect to their academic achievement motivation.The female college students have better academic achievement motivation than male college students.The male college students differed significantly from female college students with respect to their metacognition.The female college students have better metacognition than male college students.The rural and urban college students do not differ significantly with respect to their academic achievement motivation.The rural college students do not differ significantly from urban college students with respect to their metacognition.There exists positive correlation between academic achievement motivation and metacognition of college students.

A Review of Basic Needs (Food Security, Housing Security, and Homelessness) of US College Students’ During the COVID-19 Pandemic

PURPOSE: Peer-based education is commonly used on college campuses to provide health information. Using it to introduce physical activity to ethnically-diverse sedentary students attending an urban commuter college has not been explored. We examined the impact of a 10-week peer-based aerobic-exercise (AE) training program on urban college students’ leisure physical activity behavior. METHODS: Inactive students (N = 23, mean age: 21 ± 2.24 yrs) participated in a 10-week training program consisting of approximately 3 weekly AE sessions. Once-per-week sessions led by a peer-student trainer included a short lecture on exercise’s health benefits followed by 30 mins of AE (55%-65% HRR); participants were instructed to complete 2 other AE sessions independently per week and completed weekly online journals to assess adherence. Pre- and post-training evaluations of AE behavior patterns [International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)] were conducted in the weeks prior to and following the exercise program and one month (30-IPAQ) and 90 days (90-IPAQ) after the conclusion of training. Descriptive statistics describing program participation and adherence are presented. Paired-samples t-tests were conducted comparing pre- and post-training cardiovascular fitness. RESULTS: Each week 19.1 ± 1.66 participants attended a peer-led session, training at THR of 142.61 ± 22.88. Participants completed a mean of 8.3 ± 1.26 sessions out of the expected 10. They completed a mean of 2.39 ± 1.95 d·wk-1; 34.85 ± 19.62 min·session-1 independently. Twenty (86.96%) participants completed the 90-IPAQ thus, students’ leisure physical activity analysis included only these 20 participants. Pre-IPAQ data demonstrated that 25% of participants engaged in leisure physical activity at a mean of 164 ± 120 MET-min·wk-1. One month following the training period 60% of participants exercised at a mean of 434.38 ±395.76 MET-min·wk-1; 90-IPAQ data demonstrated 55% of participants continued to engage in leisure physical activity at 488.73 ± 381.33 MET-min·wk-1 on average. There was no significant effect of aerobic training on participants’ cardiovascular fitness level. CONCLUSION: Participation in a peer-led aerobic training program may serve as a gateway to adopting a low level of leisure physical activity by urban college students.

Objectives To quantify the number and type of students failing to secure basic needs. Participants Students attending 22 postsecondary schools in the United States in Fall 2019. Methods The Adult Food Security Module and part of the #RealCollege Survey were used to measure food and housing insecurity, respectively. Logistic and linear regression models were used to assess the relationship between selected factors and basic needs insecurities. Results Participants (n = 22,153) were classified as 44.1% and 52.3% food insecure and housing insecure, respectively. Homeless students or those who experienced childhood food insecurity were at the greatest odds of college food insecurity. Year in school was the largest contributor to being housing insecure, with PhD or EdD students being 1,157% more likely to experience housing insecurity compared to freshmen. Conclusions High prevalence of basic needs insecurities remain. Current campus initiatives may be insufficient, calling for a more holistic approach at the campus, state, and national levels.

Objective To examine the joint effects of food insecurity and housing instability on academic attrition among college students. Participants A representative sample of 3,160 matriculated students from the City University of New York (CUNY). Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Fall 2023. Food insecurity was assessed using USDA’s Six-Item Food Security Module; Housing instability included inability to pay rent/mortgage or utilities. Academic attrition was defined as college withdrawal or academic probation. Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) were estimated using log-binomial regression. Additive interaction was assessed using relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI). Results Students experiencing both insecurities had over twice the risk of attrition (aPR 2.16, 95%CI: 1.83–2.20). Housing instability posed a greater risk than food insecurity alone (aPR 1.55 vs. 1.30). RERI indicated a synergistic effect (RERI = 0.31, 95%CI: 0.08–0.54). Conclusions Addressing both food and housing insecurity may reduce academic attrition and support student success.