ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To examine retrospectively whether access to a campus food pantry (CFP) is related to improvements in sleep, mental health, and physical health among college students in a public university system. DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional study of student CFP users who completed an online survey in the summer of 2019. SETTING: Ten-campus University of California system. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1,855 students completed the survey. MAIN VARIABLES MEASURED: Students reported the number of CFP visits in a usual week or month. Students retrospectively rated their perceived health, depressive symptoms, and sleep sufficiency before and after having food pantry access. The difference between pre- and post-food pantry access responses was calculated. ANALYSIS: Path analysis was used to examine direct and indirect paths of the relationship between CFP visits with self-reported changes in depressive symptoms and perceived health through positive changes in self-reported sleep sufficiency, controlling for sociodemographic factors. RESULTS: More monthly CFP visits were directly related to decreased depressive symptoms and improved perceived health (ßdepressiveâ¯=â¯0.10, P < 0.001; ßhealthâ¯=â¯0.12, P < 0.001). In addition, more CFP visits were related to improved sleep sufficiency (ßâ¯=â¯0.09, Pâ¯=â¯0.001), which in turn was related to a decrease in depressive symptoms (ßâ¯=â¯0.24, Pâ¯=â¯0.001; indirect effect: 0.02, P < 0.01) and improved perceived health (ßâ¯=â¯0.23, P < 0.001; indirect effect: 0.02, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Findings suggest that college campus emergency food access is associated with self-reported improvements in student health outcomes associated with food security. Until more long-term solutions that improve college student nutrition are developed, food pantries may be filling a gap.