Kilpela Lisa Smith, Loera Taylur, Cuauro Sabrina E, Becker Carolyn Black
Center for Research to Advance Community Health (ReACH Center), Department of Medicine, Lozano-Long School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
Department of Psychological Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Nutrients. 2025 Jul 30;17(15):2486. doi: 10.3390/nu17152486.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: A growing body of literature has demonstrated that living with food insecurity (FI) increases risk for mental health concerns in addition to nutritional deficits (e.g., suboptimal micronutrient consumption, excessive macronutrient consumption, malnutrition). Yet, research is needed to improve our understanding of subpopulations potentially at increased risk for mental health concerns when living in the context of FI. The current study examined psychosocial health across women of different developmental life stages all living with FI.
Female clients of a large, urban food bank ( = 680) living with FI completed measures of mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a cross-sectional design conducted on site at the food bank.
Consistent with past research, FI severity was correlated with poorer psychosocial health across all variables. A multivariate analysis of covariance compared women living with FI across 4 developmental life stages (young adult, early midlife, late midlife, and older adult; age range = 18-94 years), controlling for FI severity and race/ethnicity, on outcomes related to mental health and HRQOL. Women in early and late midlife reported higher anxiety, eating disorder symptoms, and eating-related psychosocial impairment than younger and older women.
The mental health toll of living with FI is profound; midlife may comprise a developmental period of increased vulnerability to experience this mental health burden of living with FI for women. Thus, efforts are needed to develop innovative pathways for interventions to support the mental health of midlife women living with FI, likely involving multi-level and/or multicomponent approaches to resource access.
背景/目的：越来越多的文献表明，除了营养缺乏（如微量营养素摄入不足、宏量营养素摄入过多、营养不良）外，面临粮食不安全（FI）的生活还会增加心理健康问题的风险。然而，仍需要开展研究，以增进我们对在FI背景下可能面临更高心理健康问题风险的亚人群的理解。本研究调查了所有面临FI的不同发育生命阶段女性的心理社会健康状况。
一家大型城市食品银行的680名面临FI的女性客户，在食品银行现场采用横断面设计完成了心理健康和健康相关生活质量（HRQOL）测量。
与以往研究一致，FI严重程度与所有变量的较差心理社会健康状况相关。一项协方差多变量分析比较了处于4个发育生命阶段（青年、中年早期、中年晚期和老年；年龄范围 = 18 - 94岁）的面临FI的女性在心理健康和HRQOL相关结果方面的情况，同时控制了FI严重程度和种族/民族。中年早期和晚期的女性报告的焦虑、饮食失调症状以及与饮食相关的心理社会损害比年轻和年长女性更高。
面临FI的生活对心理健康造成的影响是深远的；中年可能是女性经历这种因FI而产生的心理健康负担的易感性增加的发育时期。因此，需要努力开发创新的干预途径，以支持面临FI的中年女性的心理健康，这可能涉及多层次和/或多成分的资源获取方法。
