Racial discrimination is associated with food insecurity, stress, and worse physical health among college students

Abstract Background Students of color disproportionately experience racial discrimination and food insecurity, which both lead to poor academic and health outcomes. This study explores the extent to which the location of racial discrimination experienced is associated with food insecurity, stress, physical health and grade point average among college students Methods A cross sectional study design was implemented to survey 143 students from a racially diverse public university. Logistic regression models assessed if discrimination at various locations was associated with food insecurity and linear models assessed how racial discrimination was associated with physical health, stress and grade point average Results Student’s experiencing food security had an average discrimination score of 2.3 (1.23, 3.37), while those experiencing food insecurity had a statistically significant ( P < 0.001) higher average discrimination score 7.3 (5.4, 9.21). Experiencing any racial discrimination was associated with increased odds of experiencing food insecurity when experienced from the police (OR 11.76, 95% CI: 1.41, 97.86), in the housing process (OR 7.9, 95% CI: 1.93, 32.34) and in the hiring process (OR 6.81, 95% CI: 1.98, 23.48) compared to those experiencing no racial discrimination after adjusting for race, gender, age and income. Conclusion The location in which a student experienced racial discrimination impacted the extent to which the racial discrimination was associated with food security status. Further research is needed to explore potential mechanisms for how racial discrimination may lead to food insecurity.