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The role of university students’ wellness in links between homelessness, food insecurity, and academic success

ABSTRACT In recent years there has been a steep increase in attention among higher education professionals to the prevalence of unmet basic needs among college students. There is also growing acknowledgement that food insecurity and homelessness among students is associated with incredible distress and a host of negative consequences for students’ success. Understanding the mechanisms that link basic needs insecurity to academic success could identify critical points of intervention to ensure educational equity among students. Our aim was to determine whether university students’ wellness mediated the association between unmet basic needs (i.e. homelessness and food insecurity) and academic success. Of the 1,330 students at a large southeastern U.S. university who completed an online survey (28% response rate), 15.49% were food insecure and 9.47% had been homeless in the past 12 months. Results of multinomial logistic regression analyses indicated that psychological well-being and sleep mediated the link between food security and GPA. Homelessness was not associated with GPA, so mediation was not examined. Implications for addressing homelessness and food insecurity among college students are offered.