Food security status, negative emotional states and academic performance among Universiti Sains Malaysia undergraduate health sciences students

Food security is a growing concern among university students and may influence emotional well-being and academic outcomes. This study aimed to determine the association between food security status, negative emotional states, and academic performance among undergraduate health sciences students. A total of 136 undergraduate health sciences students from USM were recruited in this study using the convenience sampling method. An online and self-administered questionnaire was distributed to obtain sociodemographic characteristics, food security status (US AFSSM), negative emotional states (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and academic performance (CGPA). SPSS version 29 was used to perform data analysis. The results indicated that nearly half of the respondents experienced food insecurity, with 27.9% having low food security and 20.6% identified as very low food security. Among food-secure respondents, 16.2% had high food security and 35.3% had marginal food security, which was the highest among the four food security degrees. Meanwhile, the normal category for depression, anxiety and stress had the highest percentages within their categories at 63.2%, 36.1%, and 58.9%, respectively. In terms of academic performance, 61.8% of respondents obtained an excellent CGPA, followed by 38.2% with a good CGPA. It revealed a significant association between food security status and negative emotional states, including depression (χ2 = 9.582; p-value = 0.048), anxiety (χ2 = 14.266; p-value = 0.006) and stress (χ2 = 13.784; p-value = 0.005). Additionally, food-insecure students were less likely to report excellent CGPA than food-secure students (χ2 = 4.275; p-value = 0.039). In contrast, depression (χ2 = 18.579; p-value < 0.001), anxiety (χ2 = 14.825; pvalue = 0.005), and stress (χ2 = 12.188; p-value = 0.009) were negatively associated with academic performance. These findings highlight the need to address food security status. Targeted intervention programs should have been implemented to improve students’ food security status, which would further support their emotional health and help them excel in academics.