Expenditure, Coping, and Academic Behaviors Among Food-Insecure College Students at 10 Higher Education Institutes in the Appalachian and Southeastern Regions

Overview

Journal Curr Dev Nutr

Specialty Nutritional Sciences

Date 2019 Jun 1

PMID 31149651

Citations 18

Authors

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

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

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.

Citing Articles

The Effects of Food Security on Academic Performance of University Students at a Hispanic-Serving Institution.

Moya E, Schober G, Wagler A, Ayala-Demeo Brown J, Chavez-Baray S, Liang P Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025; 22(2).

PMID: 40003491 PMC: 11855542. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph22020266.

Nutrition Knowledge, Food Insecurity, and Dietary Biomarkers: Examining Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among College Students.

Sklar E, Radtke M, Steinberg F, Medici V, Fetter D, Scherr R Nutrients. 2025; 17(3).

PMID: 39940442 PMC: 11819945. DOI: 10.3390/nu17030584.

Food Acquisition Coping Strategies Vary Based on Food Security Among University Students.

Sklar E, Chodur G, Kemp L, Fetter D, Scherr R Curr Dev Nutr. 2025; 9(1):104529.

PMID: 39877241 PMC: 11773212. DOI: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.104529.

Development, validation, and reliability testing of the College Perspectives around Food Insecurity survey.

Kilgrow J, Gamble E, Meier A, Lyman K, Barney A, Kartchner C PLoS One. 2025; 20(1):e0317444.

PMID: 39874380 PMC: 11774399. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0317444.

Supporting students through the COVID-19 pandemic: the perspectives of food pantry workers.

Tran A, Kohli M, Sreenivasan A, Chom S, Dhaani D, Rosete N BMC Nutr. 2025; 11(1):22.

PMID: 39871290 PMC: 11771070. DOI: 10.1186/s40795-025-01009-1.

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