Food Insecurity Amongst Undergraduate Students at a South African University: Risk Factors and Coping Mechanisms

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-705-7_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Food insecurity; students; limited funding

Abstract

Food insecurity is a challenge experienced by many students across the globe. One of the risk factors associated with food insecurity is dependence on financial aid. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds in South Africa receive financial aid for tuition and food. However, there are no mechanisms to ensure that this intervention effectively addresses poverty and hunger in universities. Those who do not receive funding are left to fend for themselves. The goal of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of food insecurity amongst university students enrolled at a South African university and to develop a framework aimed at alleviating this issue. The study employed a mixed-method research approach in the form of an explanatory sequential design. Data was collected from an online survey and focus group discussions. The online survey involved 382 participants from a population of 3 887. The focus group discussions involved a purposively selected sample size of 36 participants. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS 21, and qualitative data was analysed using Atlas ti 9. The majority of students (91%) experienced food insecurity. Many skipped meals and consumed a diet that lacked essential nutrients, which does not align with South African food-based dietary guidelines. To cope with poverty and hunger, students reduced their food intake, bought unhealthy foods, and sometimes resorted to theft or substance abuse. Food insecurity affected students’ mental and physical wellbeing. Intervention measures are needed to alleviate food insecurity and ensure that students are offered enough support to ensure good health and academic success.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Mpho Leslie Sealetse
AU  - Carina Kleynhans
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/13
TI  - Food Insecurity Amongst Undergraduate Students at a South African University: Risk Factors and Coping Mechanisms
BT  - Proceedings of the FIREtalk Conference - Research on FIRE! (research-on-fire 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 37
EP  - 47
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-705-7_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-705-7_4
ID  - Sealetse2026
ER  -