Undergraduate food insecurity, mental health, and substance use behaviors

Abstract

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.

Methods for Assessing Health Outcomes Associated with Food Insecurity in the United States College Student Population: A Narrative Review

“…↑ Loneliness 4. ↓ Psychological well-being Neal et al., 2022 [ 103 ] 589 Southern Connecticut State University Female: 69.4% Non-White: 41.9% FI: 38.5% 6-item 1. Depression 1.…”

“…The relationship between depression and FI in college students was primarily assessed using a version of the patient health questionnaire, which estimates risk of depression in accordance with the criteria presented in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [ 102 ]. The experience of FI resulted in higher rates of depressive symptoms in every study that used the patient health questionnaire assessment [ 26 , 31 , 100 , [103] , [104] , [105] , [106] , [107] ]. Other measures of depression and depressive symptoms have also been implemented in the research setting, such as the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales – 21-item short form (DASS-21) [ 108 ], the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale [ 36 ], the Beck Depression Inventory-II [ 79 , 109 ], with only 1 study implementing the Beck depression inventory-II not to report significant differences in depression symptoms between FI and FS college students [ 79 ].…”

“…Only 1 study within the last 5 y assessed alcohol abuse risk using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test tool, and no significant differences were observed by FSS [ 105 ]. Additional studies prompt students to report alcohol and drug habits through questions such as “During the past 30 days, how many days did you drink alcohol or use drugs?” [ 103 ]. Standardized assessments specifically for use in the college student setting include 9 tools to determine alcohol-related problems [ 146 ].…”

Advancing college food security: priority research gaps

“…Adolescents experiencing food insecurity have less access to preventive health and dental care than food secure peers (47) , which may be related to the association between college students self-reporting poor or fair health and food insecurity (15,46,48) . Similar to college students, there is also a strong relationship between experiencing food insecurity and increases in mental health diagnoses and psychosocial factors among adolescents in households with food insecurity (48)(49)(50)(51) .…”