College Students Self-Reported Food Insecurity and Correlations with Academic Performance

Background and Purpose:

Earning a college degree has been linked with greater economic mobility over a lifetime. In the past 50 years the gap in earnings between those with and without a degree has grown, making college degree completion more important than ever. Nationwide, there is a need to discover factors that affect students’ ability to complete a college degree. Much effort has been on helping students achieve academic success through tutoring and mentoring. However, from a complex systems perspective, other nonacademic factors such as food security might potentially affect academic performance. The authors hypothesized that student grades and food security were highly correlated. Very little research exists about college student academic performance and the relationship to food security.

Methods:  

A point-in-time mixed-methods research design was used to examine the relationship between food security and student academic performance. Students were recruited from a campus food pantry at a mid-sized public four-year university. Sixty-five students (N=65) voluntarily took the survey when they signed into the campus food pantry electronically. Food security was measured using the USDA Household Food Security Survey, GPA was self-reported, and other short-answer questions were asked.

Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 23. Descriptive statistics were performed on all variables. Bivariate analysis, was completed with two statistical tests. Pearson Correlations were performed with continuous variables GPA and food security score. Nonparametric tests were also performed because several variables were not normally distributed. There were however, no homogeneity of variance problems. General Inductive Analysis was used to identify commonly reported themes on the qualitative responses.

Demographic characteristics of the sample were similar to all of the food pantry visitors in regards to gender, age, and ethnicity. Sample demographics were also similar to campus-wide enrollment.

Results:

Food security and GPA were negatively correlated r (62) = -.32, p = .01. As food security scores rise, indicating more food insecurity, GPA scores drop and this was statistically significant.     

The qualitative data analysis found that self-reported ability to perform academically was diminished with food insecurity and described as worry, headaches, and low energy.

Conclusions and Implications:

Results indicate that changes in food availability of college students may improve students’ ability to perform in school leading to new places for intervention. Addressing college student food insecurity may improve academic performance.

 

We suspect that there is a significant relationship between food security and GPA for many college students in the United States. Examining these variables in a larger sample more representative of the general student population across a variety of geographic and socioeconomic contexts is needed, and will provide more information about where to focus supports for students. To learn more about how to best serve students on campuses, and fit the needs of each region, pilot studies to develop evidence-based practices. Additionally, research needs to explore state and federal policies that have the potential to buffer college student food insecurity and boost academic performance and degree completion,