Understanding Trends
Examining Food Insecurity between 2021 and 2024 among US College Students
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Andrea M. Brace, Sarah Napper, Diadrey-Anne Sealy, Todd Matthews
Food insecurity (FI) is a significant issue among college students in the United States. College students frequently have major financial responsibilities including tuition and fees, housing, etc., which can lead to issues acquiring essentials such as food and/or obtaining high quality, nutritious options. The purpose of this research is to describe the rates of food insecurity among college students in the United States in 2021 and 2024. Data are from a national sample of college students from the Spring 2021 and Spring 2024 National College Health Assessment III (NCHAIII) and include descriptive, correlative analyses, and independent samples t-tests comparing 2021 to 2024. Questions include whether they could afford to eat balanced meals, if they ever had to skip meals, or were ever hungry because there was not enough money for food. Analyses explore the relationship between FI and Body Mass Index, enrollment status, and degree level, international status, as well as other subgroups. The results of the study may inform the inclusion of college programs aimed at helping students reduce FI on college campuses, enabling students to focus on academic achievement.
Featured A Systematic Literature Review – Uncovering Hidden Consumer Insights: The Use of Projective Techniques in Food Consumer Research | By R.V. van Veijeren and S. Donoghue
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Rochelle Van Veijeren
This systematic literature review explores the application of projective techniques in food consumer research, focusing on how they uncover the underlying emotions, attitudes, and behaviours that consumers may struggle to articulate through traditional surveys. These techniques offer deeper, more subtle insights into the motivations driving consumer behaviour – insights that may not emerge through direct questioning alone. The review identifies key trends and gaps in the application of projective techniques within food consumer research. These insights are essential for uncovering the hidden motives behind purchasing and consumption behaviours, providing valuable implications for consumer research. The findings are particularly relevant to researchers and professionals in food marketing, food retailing, consumer research, and consumer behaviour, offering valuable tools to better understand the complex factors influencing consumer food preferences, food choices, restaurant experiences, and food shopping behaviour.
Restaurant Deliveries in the Time of the Pandemic: A California Case Study
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jean Daniel Saphores
This study presents an in-depth analysis of California’s restaurant meal delivery market, focusing on the transformative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyze an online meal delivery dataset from NielsenIQ’s online panel, which encompasses over 26,000 customers and 160,000 transactions, to examine the evolving trends in meal delivery services across three major Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in California: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario. Our results show a significant surge in meal delivery demand during the pandemic, followed by a noticeable decrease as the pandemic eased in 2022. Results from our spatial Durbin model highlight varying relationships between meal delivery demand and factors such as age group, education, income, and race across different MSAs and time periods. Regardless of the region and time, some variables consistently influence meal delivery demand, including urban classification, the number of jobs in an area, and the number of restaurants offering delivery services. Overall, our results outline the important role of meal delivery services in improving food accessibility, particularly in socioeconomically vulnerable communities. Meal delivery provided a crucial means of accessing diverse food options during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings demonstrate the potential of meal delivery to address gaps in food accessibility during challenging times.
