Abstract
Objective: To investigate what factors are associated with food insecurity (FI) among freshman students and identify potential solutions. Participants: 73 freshman students. Methods: Cross-sectional, Internet survey-based study. Fisher’s Exact tests examined factors associated with food security (FS); Cohen’s Kappa assessed the agreement between FI scores and self-assessment; thematic analysis used Nvivo 12. Results: FI was 54.2% among the diverse students (65% non-white). Factors associated with FS included mother with a college degree (p =.018); father employed full-time (p <.001); identifying one’s family financial situation as better than others (p = <.001); not obtaining personal student loans (p = 0.022). Students with FI tended to overestimate their FS status. Suggested solutions for FI included: improved finances, improved food accessibility, improved cooking skills. Conclusions: Future interventions should target freshmen who obtain personal student loans or have parents with less than a college degree or unstable employment status. (148).
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 540-547 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of American College Health |
Volume | 72 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2024 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Food insecurity
- disparities
- food security
- freshman college students
- hunger
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health