Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5046-4757
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6100-9744
N/A
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5786-3179
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9381-0245
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9017-7499
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4792-0704
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6434-2913
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1488-5463
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6724-1130
N/A
N/A
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
College/Unit
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
Department/Program/Center
Human Nutrition and Foods
Abstract
Background
A number of studies have measured college student food insecurity prevalence higher than the national average; however, no multicampus regional study among students at 4-y institutions has been undertaken in the Appalachian and Southeast regions of the United States.
Objectives
The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of food insecurity among college students in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, and to determine the association between food-insecurity status and money expenditures, coping strategies, and academic performance among a regional sample of college students.
Methods
This regional, cross-sectional, online survey study included 13,642 college students at 10 public universities. Food-insecurity status was measured through the use of the USDA Adult Food Security Survey. The outcomes were associations between food insecurity and behaviors determined with the use of the money expenditure scale (MES), the coping strategy scale (CSS), and the academic progress scale (APS). A forward-selection logistic regression model was used with all variables significant from individual Pearson chi-square and Wilcoxon analyses. The significance criterion α for all tests was 0.05.
Results
The prevalence of food insecurity at the universities ranged from 22.4% to 51.8% with an average prevalence of 30.5% for the full sample. From the forward-selection logistic regression model, MES (OR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.40, 1.55), CSS (OR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.21), and APS (OR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.91, 0.99) scores remained significant predictors of food insecurity. Grade point average, academic year, health, race/ethnicity, financial aid, cooking frequency, and health insurance also remained significant predictors of food security status.
Conclusions
Food insecurity prevalence was higher than the national average. Food-insecure college students were more likely to display high money expenditures and exhibit coping behaviors, and to have poor academic performance.
Digital Commons Citation
Hagedorn, Rebecca L.; McArthur, Laura H.; Hood, Lanae B.; Berner, Maureen; Anderson Steeves, Elizabeth T.; Connell, Carol L.; Wall-Bassett, Elizabeth; Spence, Marsha; Babatunde, Oyinlola Toyin; Kelly, E Brooke; Waity, Julia F.; Lillis, J Porter; and Olfert, Melissa D., "Expenditure, Coping, and Academic Behaviors among Food-Insecure College Students at 10 Higher Education Institutes in the Appalachian and Southeastern Regions" (2019). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 1255.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/1255
Source Citation
Rebecca L Hagedorn, Laura H McArthur, Lanae B Hood, Maureen Berner, Elizabeth T Anderson Steeves, Carol L Connell, Elizabeth Wall-Bassett, Marsha Spence, Oyinlola Toyin Babatunde, E Brooke Kelly, Julia F Waity, J Porter Lillis, Melissa D Olfert, Expenditure, Coping, and Academic Behaviors among Food-Insecure College Students at 10 Higher Education Institutes in the Appalachian and Southeastern Regions, Current Developments in Nutrition, Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2019, nzz058, https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzz058
Comments
This article is available under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license and permits non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This article received support from the WVU Libraries' Open Access Author Fund.