Food insecurity among college students
Erica P. Regan
Abstract
Abstract Many college students experience food insecurity. It is important that researchers understand this issue for students because food insecurity is a measure of material hardship more broadly, and it could have negative implications for students' success in college and their lifetime economic opportunities. This review synthesizes researchers' current understanding of food insecurity among college students from a sociological lens focused on economic insecurity and material hardship. It focuses in detail on the breadth and depth of research around food insecurity among college students, exploring how food insecurity is measured, researchers' varying methodologies for assessing it, and topic areas of interest, such as how food insecurity differs by institution type, demographic characteristics, and its associations with health and academic outcomes.