Food insecurity among university students in the United States amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

Helene Vilme; Naomi N Duke; Yussif Dokurugu; Elizabeth O Akin-Odanye; Christopher J Paul; Ernest Kaninjing; Ivette A López; Roland Matsouaka; Joedrecka S Brown Speights; Jessica De Leon; Derrick L Sauls; Roland N Ndip; Felix Amissah; Hayden Bosworth; Carol L Warren; Charles Muiruri

doi:10.1080/07448481.2022.2082840

Food insecurity among university students in the United States amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

J Am Coll Health. 2022 Jul 11:1-6. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2022.2082840. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Helene Vilme¹, Naomi N Duke^{2

3}, Yussif Dokurugu⁴, Elizabeth O Akin-Odanye⁵, Christopher J Paul⁶, Ernest Kaninjing⁷, Ivette A López^{8

9}, Roland Matsouaka^{10

11}, Joedrecka S Brown Speights¹², Jessica De Leon¹², Derrick L Sauls¹³, Roland N Ndip¹⁴, Felix Amissah¹⁵, Hayden Bosworth^{1

16

17

18}, Carol L Warren¹⁹, Charles Muiruri^{1

20}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
² Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
³ Department of Sociology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
⁴ Institute of Global Health, Inc. 603 MLK Jr. Blvd, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
⁵ Department of Clinical Psychology, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
⁶ Department of Public Administration, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC, USA.
⁷ School of Health and Human Performance, Georgia College, Milledgeville, GA.
⁸ Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
⁹ Utah Area Health Education Centers, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
¹¹ Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC.
¹² Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
¹³ Department of Public Health and Exercise Science, Saint Augustine's University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon.
¹⁵ Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
¹⁷ Durham VA Health Care System, Health Services Research and Development, Durham, NC, USA.
¹⁸ Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT), Durham, NC, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Interprofessional Education, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
²⁰ Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Moshi, Tanzania.

PMID: 35816732
DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2022.2082840

Abstract

Objective: This study reports on food insecurity (FI) amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants and methods: College students in four regions of the US completed the two-item validated Hunger Vital Sign™ screening tool on Qualtrics.

Results: FI increased significantly after March 2020 among US students (worry about food running out: 25% to 35%; food did not last: 17% to 21%) with significant regional increase in the Midwest and South. An adjusted multivariable logistic regression model indicated students that ran out of food were significantly at greater odds of experiencing hardship with paying bills (AOR: 5.59, 95% CI =3.90-8.06).

Conclusions: The findings identified an increase in the prevalence of FI among college students during the pandemic. Suggestions of how to address FI are discussed.

Keywords: Food Insecurity; US regions; college and university students.