Psychological Distress among College Students: Role of Food Insecurity and Other Social Determinants of Mental Health

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Monideepa B Becerra, Benjamin J Becerra

Abstract

Food insecurity is a major social determinant of health and an assessment of how it may impact college students' mental health is imperative, as well as differential associations by self-identified gender. A cross-sectional survey was used among college students of a mid-size minority-serving institution with a final sample size of 302 participants aged 18 years or above. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariable regressions were conducted, by gender, to assess the role of food insecurity (United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) six-item questionnaire), on mental health outcomes (Kessler-6 scale and self-perception). All the statistical analyses were conducted in SPSS version 24 (IBM, Corp.; Armonk, NY, USA) with an alpha less than 0.05 used to denote significance. Among those with food insecurity, the odds of reporting psychological distress (odds ratio (OR) = 3.645, p < 0.05) and an average to very poor self-perceived mental health status (OR = 2.687, p <0.05) were higher compared to their food-secure counterparts, with the results consistent in a gender-specific analysis as well. Compared to men, however, women had higher odds of psychological distress (OR = 2.280, p < 0.05), as well as reporting average to very poor ...Continue Reading

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Oct 4, 2019·The Journal of Asthma : Official Journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma·Monideepa B BecerraBenjamin J Becerra

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Citations

Oct 29, 2020·Sociology of Health & Illness·Don E Willis
Nov 1, 2021·Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics·Matthew J LandryHeather A Eicher-Miller

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