Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.
Research Centre of Excellence for Nutrition and Non-Communicable Diseases, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 3;19(9):5535. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095535.
The interrelation between food security, academic performance, and psychosocial factors remains unclear. This study aims to identify psychosocial factors as mediators of food security status and academic performance among university students at one of Malaysia’s public universities. Respondents included 663 bachelor’s degree students from seven randomly selected programmes at the university. Data on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, food security status (US Adult Food Security Survey Module, FSSM), psychosocial factors (DASS-21), and academic performance were collected using an online survey. The SPSS PROCESS macro was used to perform mediation analysis. The result (β = −0.0182, p < 0.001) indicates that food insecurity is associated with poor academic performance. As well as that, an increase in anxiety (β = −0.0027, p < 0.05) and depression (β = −0.0025, p < 0.05) was significant associated with a decrease in academic performance. Furthermore, anxiety and depression serve as significant mediators in the relationship between food security and academic performance. Alleviating food insecurity is not only a way to improve academic performance; it can also improve academic performance by reducing anxiety and depression.
食品安全、学业表现和心理社会因素之间的相互关系尚不清楚。本研究旨在确定心理社会因素是否为马来西亚某公立大学学生的食品安全状况和学业表现的中介因素。受访者包括该校随机选择的七个本科课程的 663 名学生。使用在线调查收集了关于人口统计学和社会经济特征、食品安全状况（美国成人食品安全调查模块，FSSM）、心理社会因素（DASS-21）和学业表现的数据。使用 SPSS PROCESS 宏进行中介分析。结果（β=-0.0182，p<0.001）表明，食品不安全与学业成绩差有关。此外，焦虑（β=-0.0027，p<0.05）和抑郁（β=-0.0025，p<0.05）的增加与学业成绩的下降显著相关。此外，焦虑和抑郁是食品安全与学业表现之间关系的重要中介因素。缓解食品不安全不仅是提高学业成绩的一种方式；通过减轻焦虑和抑郁，也可以提高学业成绩。
