ArticlePublic health nutrition2021
'Spending all this time stressing and worrying and calculating': marginal food security and student life at a Diverse Urban University.
Article in Public health nutrition, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- The effect of perceived responsibility on stigma toward people experiencing food insecurity and accessing food support: an experimental vignette study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Navigating Food Insecurity in Higher Education: Using the Social Cognitive Theory to Identify Key Influences and Effective Interventions.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Review
- Food Acquisition Coping Strategies Vary Based on Food Security Among University Students.Current developments in nutrition · 2025Article
- Beyond the Classroom: The Influence of Food Insecurity, Mental Health, and Sleep Quality on University Students' Academic Performance.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Racial discrimination is associated with food insecurity, stress, and worse physical health among college students.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Measuring food security in university students: A comparison of the USDA 10-item and six-item food security survey modules.Journal of hunger & environmental nutrition · 2024Article
- Food insecurity is inversely associated with positive childhood experiences among a nationally representative sample of children aged 0-17 years in the USA.Public health nutrition · 2023Article
- Dose response relationship between food insecurity and quality of life in United States adults: 2016-2017.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2023Article
- Severity of Food Insecurity among Australian University Students, Professional and Academic Staff.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Basic Needs Insecurities Are Associated with Anxiety, Depression, and Poor Health Among University Students in the State of New Mexico.Journal of community health · 2022Article
- Investigating the Feasibility of a Restaurant Delivery Service to Improve Food Security among College Students Experiencing Marginal Food Security, a Head-to-Head Trial with Grocery Store Gift Cards.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveFood security status is a continuum ranging from high to very low food security. While marginal food security falls next to high food security on the spectrum, new quantitative research indicates marginal food security status is associated with negative health outcomes and poor academic performance among college students. Qualitative research focusing on college students experiencing marginal food security has not been conducted. The current study aims to qualitatively explore experiences of college students with marginal food security and to identify themes to better understand and provide context regarding how marginal food security impacts students.
designStudents were recruited for semi-structured interviews with questions designed to study the challenges associated with students' food situations. All interviews were recorded and transcribed with themes identified via an inductive approach.
settingA large public university on the US west coast.
participantsThirty college students.
resultsKey themes that emerged: purchasing cheap unhealthy foods, insufficient time to prepare and eat meals on a regular basis, stress and anxiety around the inability to eat healthy food and future health issues, self-perception of health when eating poorly along with physical symptoms and low academic motivation by not fully participating in their courses due to few healthy food options or missing meals.
conclusionMarginal food security can potentially diminish students' health and their capacity to learn and succeed in their coursework. The results emphasise that students experiencing marginal food security should not be grouped with students experiencing high food security.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.