Rural veterans have poorer health, use healthcare services less often than their urban counterparts, and have more prevalent food insecurity than average U.S. households. Food insecurity and resource use may be influenced by modifiable psychological attributes such as grit and help-seeking behaviors, which may be improved through interventions. Grit and help-seeking have not been previously evaluated among rural veterans. Thus, this cross-sectional study evaluated the hypothesis that grit and help-seeking were associated with food insecurity and the use of resources. Food security, resource use, grit, and help-seeking behavior were assessed among rural veterans (≥18 years) from five food pantries in southern Illinois counties (n = 177) from March 2021 to November 2021. Adjusted multiple regression was used to estimate the relationship between the odds of food insecurity and the use of resources with grit and help-seeking scores. Higher grit scores were significantly associated with lower odds of food insecurity (OR = 0.5, p = 0.009). No other associations were detected. The results provided evidence to inform the content of future educational interventions to improve food insecurity and address health disparities among rural veterans by addressing grit. The enhancement of psychological traits such as grit is related to food security and has the potential to benefit other aspects of well-being.
Keywords: food security; grit; help-seeking; nutrition policy; pilot project; psychological factors; resource use; rural community; veterans.