Experiences of Food Insecurity Among Undergraduate Students: “You Can’t Starve Yourself Through School”.

“Cross-sectional research in Australia and the United States suggests that food insecurity affects from nearly a fifth to almost two-thirds of students at universities examined (Chaparro, Zaghloul, Holck, & Dobbs, 2009; Gallegos, Ramsey, & Ong, 2013; Hughes, Serebryanikova, Donaldson, & Leveritt, 2011; Maroto, Snelling, & Linck, 2014; Miles, McBeath, Brockett, & Sorenson, 2017; Patton-Lopez, Loppez-Cevallos, Cancel-Tirado, & Vazquez, 2014). Students living in food-insecure households experience poor academic outcomes, CJHE / RCES Volume 48, No. 2, 2018 Food Insecurity in Higher Education / M. Maynard, S. B. Meyer, C. M. Perlman, & S. I. Kirkpatrick 132 including lower grade point averages and difficulties concentrating at school, in comparison to food-secure students (Gaines, Robb, Knol, & Sickler, 2014; Gallegos et al., 2013; Maroto et al., 2014; Munro, Quayle, Simpson, & Barnsley, 2013; Payne-Sturges, Tjaden, Caldeira, Vincent, & Arria, 2017). Further, though they did not examine food insecurity in particular, a systematic review by Richardson, Elliott, and Roberts (2013) demonstrates that higher levels of student debt are associated with higher levels of stress among students and a higher likelihood of experiencing poor mental health and depression (Richardson et al., 2013). A recent survey of five Canadian universities conducted by the non-profit organization Meal Exchange suggested that almost two in five students experience food insecurity, with perceived negative impacts on physical and mental health (Silverthorn, 2016).”

— Maynard, Meyer, Perlman, & Kirkpatrick

You can find the rest of the article published in the Canadian Journal of Higher Education, by clicking here.