Student survey responses about the accessibility of affordable and nutritious food will assist two Marshall professors researching food insecurity and eating behavior. 

Doctors Penny Koontz and Brittany Canady from Marshall University’s psychology department recognized a limited amount of research surrounding young adults access to food and how their eating behaviors are affected by it. Although the coronavirus did not present a driving factor behind this research, Dr. Canady identified a pattern of trauma that Covid has since exacerbated in relation to food insecurity.  

On Jan. 26, Marshall’s University of Communications sent out a mass email to all undergraduate students regarding a research project survey on “Food Insecurity and Eating Behavior.” 

According to Dr. Canady, she and Dr. Koontz hope to publish their findings in a scientific journal. Dr. Canady said this could add to the corpus of literature surrounding how food insecurity influences eating habits, as well as the connection between adverse childhood experiences and one’s relationship with food. Dr. Canady added that publishing would allow other psychologists to build on their research, leading to better clinical solutions for eating habits. 

 Dr. Canady has been fortunate enough to not have a personal experience with food insecurity despite her father having encountered very significant poverty as a child which resulted in critical consequences.  

Dr. Koontz, on the other hand, endured an entirely different upbringing as a child. 

“I would say that I experienced food insecurity in the sense that my family could only purchase canned vegetables and we used a lot of prepackaged ingredients that, of course, contained things like high sugar, high sodium and high fats because of low income; and so, I didn’t have access to fresh vegetables, fresh fruits and leaner cuts of meat. So, I think that—just on a personal level—that this definitely played a role in my food choices and food preferences as an adult,” said Koontz.  

Although there is no set end date for when the research project survey closes, Dr. Koontz and Dr. Canady plan to keep it open until responses taper off and the survey stops receiving new responses.  

If any student is interested in participating in this research project, the survey can be found here. Along with completing this survey, the school of communications is awarding participants one of four $10 gift cards to Marshall University’s bookstore.