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Food Insecurity Among College Students at West Virginia University and Self‐Reported Health Status
Author(s) -
Hagedorn Rebecca L,
Barr Makenzie L,
Famodu Oluremi A,
Morris Allison M,
Clark Rashel L,
Olfert Melissa Diann
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.791.32
Subject(s) - appalachia , food insecurity , food security , west virginia , population , agriculture , socioeconomics , appalachian region , environmental health , medicine , geography , psychology , gerontology , sociology , archaeology , paleontology , physical geography , biology
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2015 food insecurity effected roughly 17 percent of the population at some time during the year. Previous studies have shown food insecurity to be present in the college population on the west coast and pacific rim. However, evaluation in a more rural region, such as Appalachia, is limited. The objective of this cross‐sectional study was to measure the prevalence of food insecurity in students attending West Virginia University (WVU), in central Appalachia. Food security was classified using the USDA Household Food Security Module which separated individuals into 4 categories (high, marginal, low, and very low food security). A 56 question tool was developed by an Appalachian Multistate Collaborative to investigate food insecurity in college students attending an Appalachian Higher Education Institution. After Institutional Review Board, recruitment included sending emails to 1191 professors at WVU to reach students during Fall 2016 semester starting the first week of October through the end of November. A total of 639 undergraduate (n=505) and graduate (n=134) students responded to the survey with an average age of the individuals at 21 ± 4 years. Respondents were predominately single (94%), Caucasian (89%), females (71%), and of undergraduate status (77%). Of the total population, 35% of students (n=244) reported food insecurity (low or very low food security). Of 91 students reporting fair or poor health, 60% were classified as food insecure. Food insecure students had higher weight (161.1±39.8lb) compared to food secure students (155.8±35.4lb) that trended toward statistical significance by two‐tailed t‐test (p=0.09). These results suggest that food insecurity may attribute to poor self‐reported health status and increased weight gain. Further investigation is warranted to determine this relationship in young adults attending schools in the Appalachian Region. Support or Funding Information Approval to use the data set was granted by the University of West Virginia University Institutional Review Board prior to study implementation.