ADDRESSING FOOD INSECURITY AMONG MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS DURING COVID-19: IMPLICATIONS FOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37268/mjphm/vol.23/no.1/art.1719Keywords:
Food insecurity, academic performance, covid-19, university studentsAbstract
University students are among the population that is most prone to experiencing food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students experiencing food insecurity have a higher likelihood of performing poorly at university. However, only a few studies have been conducted in Malaysia to determine the association between food insecurity, and academic performance among university students during COVID-19. As a result, the purpose of this study was to investigate the aforementioned association between variables. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 undergraduate students from Malaysia's selected public universities in each zone. This self-administered online survey is divided into three sections: demographic and socioeconomic factors; food security status via the USDA (food security survey module, FSSM); and students' current academic performance (based on ICGPA). SPSS version 25 was used to analyse the data. The result indicates the majority of the respondents were classified to have a marginal food security level (38.0%), followed by high food security level (31.0%), low food security level (21.7%), and the remaining (9.30%) were classified to have a very low food security level. The majority of respondents (45.3%) had a CGPA of 3.50 to 4.00. The study showed a statistically significant association between food insecurity and current CGPA among Malaysian university students (1, n=300) = 7.739 and p=0.021. The association between food insecurity and academic performance may be accounted for by a range of causes, including hunger, despair, and ill health. Selecting the extent to which each possible relationship between food insecurity and low academic performance contributes can aid health-related authorities in determining the most effective areas for intervention.
References
Mardones, M. C., Schnakovszky, C., Herghelegiu, E., Ciubotariu, V. A., & Cristea, I. (2020). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of educational process: A student survey. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(21), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217770
Wolfson, J. A., & Leung, C. W. (2020). Food insecurity and COVID-19: Disparities in early effects for us adults. Nutrients, 12(6), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12061648
Soldavini, J., Andrew, H., & Berner, M. (2021). Characteristics associated with changes in food security status among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 11(2), 295–304. https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/ibaa110
van Woerden, I., Todd, M., & Laska, M. N. (2018). Hungry to learn: The prevalence and effects of food insecurity on health behaviors and outcomes over time among a diverse sample of university freshmen. International Journal of Behavioral
Martinez, S. M., Frongillo, E. A., Leung, C., & Ritchie, L. (2020). No food for thought: Food insecurity is related to poor mental health and lower academic performance among students in California’s public university system. Journal of Health Psychology, 25(12), 1930–1939. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105318783028
McArthur LH, Ball L, Danek AC, Holbert D. A high prevalence of food insecurity among university students in Appalachia reflects a need for educational interventions and policy advocacy. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2017;50(6):564–72. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12082352
Nikolaus CJ, Nickols-Richardson SM, Ellison B. Food insecurity among college students in the U.S.: a systematic review and meta-analysis. http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.asp?ID=CRD42017069902.
Bruening, M., van Woerden, I., Todd, M., & Laska, M. N. (2018). Hungry to learn: The prevalence and effects of food insecurity on health behaviors and outcomes over time among a diverse sample of university freshmen. International Journal of Behavioral
El Zein, A., Shelnutt, K. P., Colby, S., Vilaro, M. J., Zhou, W., Greene, G., Olfert, M. D., Riggsbee, K., Morrell, J. S., & Mathews, A. E. (2019). Prevalence and correlates of food insecurity among U.S. college students: A multi-institutional study. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6943-6
Mohd Nasir, M. I., Ramli, M. W., & Mohd Som, S. H. (2021). Now Look What You’ve Done, COVID-19! The Impact on Academic Survival among Postgraduate Students in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v11-i2/843
Maynard, M. S., Meyer, S. B., Perlman, C. M., & Kirkpatrick, S. I. (2019). Experiences of Food Insecurity Among Undergraduate Students: “You Can’t Starve Yourself Through School.” Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 48(2), 130–148. https://doi.org/10.7202/1057107ar
Lee, S. D., Hanbazaza, M., Ball, G. D. C., Farmer, A., Maximova, K., & Willows, N. D. (2018). Food insecurity among postsecondary students in developed countries: A narrative review. British Food Journal, 120(11), 2660–2680. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-08-2017-0450
Lederer, A. M., Hoban, M. T., Lipson, S. K., Zhou, S., & Eisenberg, D. (2021). More Than Inconvenienced: The Unique Needs of U.S. College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Health Education and Behavior, 48(1), 14–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198120969372
Hagedorn, R. L., & Olfert, M. D. (2018). Food insecurity and behavioral characteristics for academic success in young adults attending an appalachian university. Nutrients, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10030361
Sulaiman, N., Yeatman, H., Russell, J., & Law, L. S. (2021). A food insecurity systematic review: Experience from malaysia. In Nutrients (Vol. 13, Issue 3). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030945
Etikan, I. (2016). Comparison of Convenience Sampling and Purposive Sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
Ukegbu, P., Nwofia, B., Ndudiri, U., Uwakwe, N., & Uwaegbute, A. (2019). Food Insecurity and Associated Factors Among University Students. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 40(2), 271–281. https://doi.org/10.1177/0379572119826464
Hasan, N., & Bao, Y. (2020). Impact of “e-Learning crack-up” perception on psychological distress among college students during COVID-19 pandemic: A mediating role of “fear of academic year loss.” Children and Youth Services Review, 118(August), 105355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105355
Daniels, L. M., Goegan, L. D., & Parker, P. C. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 triggered changes to instruction and assessment on university students’ self-reported motivation, engagement and perceptions. Social Psychology of Education, 24(1), 299–318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-021-09612-3
Osipov, A. Y., Ratmanskaya, T. I., Zemba, E. A., Potop, V., Kudryavtsev, M. D., & Nagovitsyn, R. S. (2021). The impact of the universities closure on physical activity and academic performance in physical education in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Physical Education of Students, 25(1), 20–27. https://doi.org/10.15561/20755279.2021.0103
Pokhrel, S., & Chhetri, R. (2021). A Literature Review on Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Teaching and Learning. Higher Education for the Future, 8(1), 133–141. https://doi.org/10.1177/2347631120983481
Syaza, N., Ahmad, S., & Sulaiman, N. (2021). Food Insecurity: Is It a Threat to University Students’ Well-Being and Success?
Zhang, T., Wu, Q., & Zhang, Z. (2020). Probable Pangolin Origin of SARS-CoV-2 Associated with the COVID-19 Outbreak. Current Biology, 30(8), 1578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.03.063
Mayasari, N. R., Ho, D. K. N., Lundy, D. J., Skalny, A. V., Tinkov, A. A., Teng, I. C., Wu, M. C., Faradina, A., Mohammed, A. Z. M., Park, J. M., Ngu, Y. J., Aliné, S., Shofia, N. M., & Chang, J. S. (2020). Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security and diet-related lifestyle behaviors: An analytical study of google trends-based query volumes. Nutrients, 12(10), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12103103
Daniels, L. M., Goegan, L. D., & Parker, P. C. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 triggered changes to instruction and assessment on university students’ self-reported motivation, engagement and perceptions. Social Psychology of Education, 24(1), 299–318. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-021-09612-3
Ramlee, I. S., Zalbahar, N., & Wahab, R. A. (2019). Food Insecurity Among University Students At Two Selected Public Universities In Malaysia. 48, 101–110.
Carroll, N., Sadowski, A., Laila, A., Hruska, V., Nixon, M., Ma, D. W. L., & Haines, J. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on health behavior, stress, financial and food security among middle to high income canadian families with young children. Nutrients, 12(8), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12082352
Fadilah Mohd Nor, Norhasmah Sulaiman, Zalilah Mohd Shariff, & Zuriati Ibrahim. (2017). Socio-Economic Status and Food Insecurity Among the Elderly in. 53–66.
Niles, Mudenda, S., Zulu, A., Phiri, M. N., Ngazimbi, M., Mufwambi, W., Kasanga, M., & Banda, M. (2020). Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on College and University Students: A Global Health and Education Problem. Aquademia, 4(2), ep20026. https://doi.org/10.29333/aquademia/8494
de Moura Ariza Alpino, T., Santos, C. R. B., de Barros, D. C., & de Freitas, C. M. (2020). COVID-19 and food and nutritional (in)security: action by the Brazilian Federal Government during the pandemic, with budget cuts and institutional dismantlement. Cadernos de Saude Publica, 36(8). https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-311X00161320
Morris LM, Smith S, Davis J, Null DB. The prevalence of food security and insecurity among Illinois university students. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2016;48(6):376–82.
Arria, A. M., Caldeira, K. M., Payne-sturges, D. C., Tjaden, A., & Vincent, K. B. (2019). Students and Implications for Academic Institutions. AM J Health Promot., 32(2), 349–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117117719620.Student
