Factors associated with food security of Texas Woman's University freshmen.

To investigate what factors are associated with food insecurity (FI) among freshman students and identify potential solutions. 73 freshman students. Cross-sectional, Internet survey-based study. Fisher's Exact tests examined factors associated with food security (FS); Cohen's Kappa assessed the agreement between FI scores and self-assessment; thematic analysis used Nvivo 12. FI was 54.2% among the diverse students (65% non-white). Factors associated with FS included mother with a college degree (p =.018); father employed full-time (p <.001); identifying one's family financial situation as better than others (p = <.001); not obtaining personal student loans (p = 0.022). Students with FI tended to overestimate their FS status. Suggested solutions for FI included: improved finances, improved food accessibility, improved cooking skills. Future interventions should target freshmen who obtain personal student loans or have parents with less than a college degree or unstable employment status. (148) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]