About this srcd poster session

---

Panel information
Panel 10. Health, Growth, Injury

Abstract

---

Objective: With the mental health crisis among adolescents and young adults that includes high rates of depression and anxiety (Gruber et al., 2023), it is important to understand factors that contribute to or are protective of mental health problems among young adults. Approximately 18% of households with children last year were food-insecure (Rabbitt et al., 2024). Childhood food security may have lasting influences on an individual’s health into adulthood including associations with their physical and mental health as well as health behaviors (Kopels et al., 2024). Furthermore, food insecurity has been linked to less physical activity among college students (Bruening et al., 2018). Therefore, this study examined the associations between childhood food security and current physical activity with depression and anxiety symptomology among young-adult college students and if associations between physical activity and mental health differed based on childhood food security.

Methods: Participants included 529 young adult (18-25 years) university students (M=19.84, SD=1.37; 52% female; 54% White, 20% Hispanic, 17% Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander) of whom 55.8% were freshman and 45.2% identified as a first-generation college student. Students completed all study procedures online. Measures included the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; Kroenke et al., 2001), the General Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale (GAD-7; Spitzer et al., 2006), and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (Craig et al., 2003). Participants were asked to reflect on their childhood (prior to age 18) and respond to items from the USDA Guide to Measuring Food Security (Bickel et al., 2000) to assess childhood food security. One structural equation model was conducted assessing both mental health outcomes simultaneously and accounted for participant age, sex, and perceived SES.

Results: Food security scores revealed that 17.2% of participants endorsed at least one item that indicated food insecurity and 8.4% of participants would have been classified as food insecure during their childhood. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores indicated that 61% of participants had mild to severe depression and 64% had mild to severe anxiety. Current physical activity was directly associated with both depression (est=-.002, p=.02) and anxiety (est=-.002, p=.02) scores, such that more physical activity was associated with less mental health symptomology. Childhood food security was directly associated with both depression (est=.09, p<.001) and anxiety (est=.08, p=.01) scores, such that childhood food insecurity was associated greater mental health symptomology. Childhood food security did not moderate associations between current physical activity levels and mental health symptomology.

Conclusions: Overall, childhood food insecurity and less current physical activity were associated with higher depression and anxiety scores among young adult college students. Findings suggest that childhood food insecurity may have a lasting influence on an individual’s mental health into young adulthood. However, food insecurity did not exacerbate associations between low physical activity and greater mental health symptomology. Addressing food insecurity in childhood is essential to promote positive health and, as this study exemplifies, mental health outcomes for college students. Furthermore, promoting physical activity may have positive ramifications for mental health as well as physical health for young adults.

Author information

Author	Role
Samantha Miadich, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Lowell	Presenting author
Stephanie Madden, University of Massachusetts Lowell	Non-presenting author
Jiabin Shen, University of Massachusetts Lowell	Non-presenting author

⇦ Back to session