AUTHOR=Wu Haowen , Gu Zhijun , Zeng Linmiao , Guo Tianyou 

TITLE=Do Global Adolescents With Food Insecurity Feel Lonely?

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.820444

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.820444

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=As a proxy measure of socioeconomic status, food insecurity is understudied in mental health-related research. This study aimed to explore the association between food insecurity and loneliness in adolescents. Using cross-sectional data from the Global Student Health Survey (GSHS), 164993 adolescent participants were included in this study. Food insecurity and loneliness and other covariates were assessed by self-reported questionnaire. Multivariable logistics regression considering complex survey was used to explore the association between food insecurity and loneliness. The prevalence of loneliness was 10.8% in adolescents. With higher levels of food insecurity, the prevalence of loneliness in general increased, but the highest prevalence of loneliness was at the level of ‘most of the time’ in food insecurity. Adolescents who reported severe food insecurity had significantly greater odds for loneliness: (1) being most of the time (odd ratio [OR] = 2.54, 95% CI = 2.13–3.02); (2) always hungry (OR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.55–2.51). Of all the 53 countries, adolescents from 39 countries reported significantly higher prevalence of loneliness when exposed to food insecurity. The pooled OR was 1.74 (1.60–1.89) with a negligible heterogeneity (Higher I-squared was 34.2%). Adolescents with food insecurity were more likely to be exposed to be lonely. Eliminating socioeconomic disparities in adolescents might be a good approach to promote mental health in adolescents. Future studies are encouraged to utilize improve study design to confirm or negate our study findings.