Abstract

escriptive statistics were used to describe the prevalence of food insecurity and participants’ characteristics. Chi-square test of independence was used to determine the bivariate associations of food insecurity and sociodemographic variables. Whenever the number in any cell was < 5 in a 2 × 2 contingency table, Fisher’s exact test was used. The difference between food-secure and food-insecure students on health-related parameters was analyzed using independent t-test for data that pass the normality test and Mann–Whitney’s U test for those not. To model the association of health and academic outcomes (i.e., BMI, perceived stress, disordered eating behaviors, sleep quality, and self-reported GPA) and food security status, multiple logistic regressions were used. These models were adjusted for variables found to be significant in the bivariate analyses (i.e., Pell grant status, parental education, place of residence, and meal plan status) and variables known to affect outcome measures (age, sex, university, and employment status) based on previous literature [6, 19, 43, 44]. Results from these regression models were reported as odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. All analyses were conducted using the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 24 (Armonk, NY). Statistical significance was determined at P < 0.05.

Eating Attitudes Test-26

14-item Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale

Participants were weighed on a digital scale (Tanita Scale SECA 874) to the nearest 0.1 kg while wearing minimal clothing. Standing height was measured using a portable stadiometer (SECA 213) to the nearest 0.1 cm. BMI was calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by the height in square meters (kg/m2).

19-item Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index

he number of affirmative responses was summed to obtain a raw score ranging from 0 to 10. Students were then designated to one of four food security categories: high food security (i.e., no food access problems, defined as having a raw food security score zero), marginal food security (i.e., anxiety over food supply, defined as having a raw food security score 1–2), low food security (i.e., reduced diet quality and variety, defined as having a raw food security score 3–5), or very low food security (i.e., multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake, defined as having a raw food security score 6–10).

10-item validated USDA Adult Food Security Survey Module (AFSSM)

A cross-sectional study

leaving data from 855 students as the study sample of this investigation

Among the 4630 students,

5426 students

To be eligible, participants had to report eating less than 2 cups of fruits and/or less than 3 cups of vegetables as measured by the National Cancer Institute’s screener [31] and having at least one additional risk factor for weight gain during the college years.

Recruitment of first-year students

Data were acquired during the project development phase of a USDA-funded, multi-state, prospective health promotion study, Get FRUVED.

These universities were members of an established multi-state research team (NC1193). Assessments were conducted at each university during fall 2015 and late spring 2016 academic semesters by trained research assistants. To reflect on food insecurity experienced during the students’ first year of college, data from the second assessment point were utilized for this investigation.