The lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the basic-needs security and mental health on a sample of college students.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the impact of the pandemic on a sample of college students, and test associations with food security and mental distress. Participants: A convenience sample of 132 students from a diverse U.S. institution. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that utilized online surveys. Data was analyzed using X², binary and ordinal logistic regression. Results: 63.6% of the participants experienced employment disruption; 43.2% reported food-related hardships; and 59.9% reported reduced resource availability. Food insecure students were 4.53 times more likely to experience employment disruption (p < 0.01); those with childhood food insecurity were 8.02 times more likely to report food-related hardships (p < 0.01). Individuals reporting financial disruptions to diet were 4.32 times more likely to report resource hardships (p < 0.01). Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the pandemic impacted multiple aspects of life. Experiences of food insecurity greatly increased the odds of pandemic-related hardships, while those reporting more hardships experienced greater psychological distress.