Embodying Inequality: Food Insecurity, Social Status, and College Student Health

• In Event: 3429 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 2. Barriers and Resilience in Higher Education

Abstract

A growing but limited body of research is identifying the college student population as one that is particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. Early research has produced estimates of food insecurity prevalence among college students ranging from 14 to 60 percent. This literature has focused primarily on the academic consequences of food insecurity for students, while others have begun to identify the health consequences. Mostly absent from the literature is attention to the social consequences of food insecurity in the university setting, and how those social factors may also contribute to worse health outcomes. The present study fills this gap by utilizing original survey data collected from a random sample (n=300) of college students enrolled at an urban university in the Midwest. This study examines the impact of food insecurity on health outcomes and the mediation of this relationship by social status among college students. The analysis is designed to answer the following research questions: 1) What is the relationship between food insecurity and self-rated, physical, and mental health among college students? 2) Does social status play a mediating role in the relationship between food insecurity and health among college students? Using a psychosocial framework and insights from the stress process model, I discuss the implications of the findings for understanding food insecurity in a university context. In doing so, I offer a more complete view of the food insecurity experience that emphasizes the social significance of food.

Author

• Don Edward Willis, University of Arkansas at Little Rock