State Surveillance Findings

Research utilizing statewide college health surveillance data:

See our most recent findings available via Open Access:

• Laska MN, Lenk K, Lust K, McGuire CM, Porta CM, Stebleton MJ. Sociodemographic and health disparities among students screening positive for food insecurity: Findings from a large college health surveillance system. Preventive Medicine Reports, 2020.

The University of Minnesota’s Boynton Health Services developed and currently administers the College Student Health Survey (CSHS), a large-scale surveillance system with more than 60 participating institutions. The CSHS includes data on food insecurity as well as demographics and comprehensive indicators of health, well-being and academic achievement. The survey is administered annually to students at 2-year community and technical colleges and 4-year colleges and universities across Minnesota.

We have used these quantitative data to examine disparities in food insecurity status by gender, age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic background, sexual identity, and school type. Merging CSHS data from 2015-2018 allowed maximization of the sample for cross-sectional mixed-effects regression models. Predictive models allowed us to identify groups at greatest risk for food insecurity and the most salient screening factors to be used to identify students at highest risk for becoming food insecure.