Retention remains a problem for postsecondary institutions and college students. To address these issues, researchers have sought to identify factors of college success and retention. Findings have consistently shown the importance of psychosocial factors and mental health on college students’ academic success. As such, university and college counseling centers are well positioned to enhance students’ academic success by addressing psychosocial distress. However, existing literature on the effect of counseling on college students’ academic success is mixed, and limitations exist. To address previous limitations of the literature, this study utilized an interrupted time series design to examine differences in students’ postcounseling academic success compared to their precounseling academic success. Additionally, we examined the association between changes in students’ psychological distress and academic distress for students who endorsed clinical distress at the onset of counseling and changes in their grade point average (GPA) over time. Data for this study consisted of 1,231 clients seen by 49 therapists at a university counseling center. As hypothesized, students’ GPAs increased at a greater rate postcounseling compared to precounseling. Additionally, for students who were clinically distressed at the onset of counseling, reductions in their psychological distress were associated with positive changes in their GPA over time, but the relationship between changes in their academic distress and changes in their GPA was not significant. This study suggests that counseling can be beneficial for college students’ academic success, in part due to changes in students’ psychological distress, but not their academic distress, specifically for clinically distressed students.

Purpose The prevalence of food insecurity among undergraduate students is higher than the national average and associated with adverse academic outcomes. Our objective was to describe the prevalence of food insecurity, food access behaviors, and associations between food security status and well‐being in a dental student population. Methods All dental students (N = 328) enrolled in the College of Dentistry at the University of Iowa in the fall 2019 semester were invited to participate. The survey was designed to query demographic variables, food security status (i.e., the United States Department of Agriculture's 10‐item Adult Food Security Module), and food‐ or hunger‐related well‐being (i.e., sleep, academic performance, and stress). The survey was administered using the Qualtrics survey platform. Following the initial invitation, students were sent two reminders and allowed 3 weeks for completion. Results The survey response rate was 24.7%. Forty‐seven percent of respondents were food insecure. Food insecure students were more likely to attend collegiate programming (e.g., lunch and learns) for the primary purpose of obtaining free food than their food secure peers (p <0.001). In addition, food insecure students were more likely to report experiencing food‐ or hunger‐related sleep (p = 0.001), study or academic performance (p <0.001), or stress difficulties than their food secure peers (p <0.001). Conclusion The prevalence of food insecurity in dental students was relatively high and associated with adverse food‐ and/or hunger‐related well‐being outcomes. Food insecurity might be a barrier to dental student success, compromising their immediate health and ability to learn.

PurposeFood insecurity is associated with lower diet quality, adverse health outcomes, and academic difficulty among undergraduate students. The objective was to identify the relationship between food security status and diet quality in dental students.MethodsAll dental students attending Howard University (n = 286) or the University of Iowa (n = 326) during the fall 2021 semester were invited to complete a cross‐sectional survey designed to query demographics, food security status (i.e., United States Department of Agriculture's ten item Adult Food Security Module), and diet quality (i.e., short Healthy Eating Index). The survey was administered using the Qualtrics platform.ResultsResponse rates were similar for Howard (32.5%) and Iowa (29.4%). Students with food insecurity (46.0%) were slightly older and more likely to be Black or other, first generation professional/graduate students, and receive financial aid than peers with food security (p < 0.050). Food insecurity was associated with lower intakes of fruits and vegetables (p ≤ 0.005), higher intakes of added sugars (p < 0.001), and lower diet quality (p = 0.003). In linear regression analyses that controlled for other variables, food insecurity (p = 0.012), school site (p = 0.027), and gender (p = 0.039) were predictive of lower diet quality.ConclusionsThe inability to procure adequate and appropriate foods was associated with marginal dietary habits (i.e., less than ideal food choices and eating behaviors) and lower diet quality in dental students. Both marginal dietary habits and lower diet quality increase chronic disease risk and may present a barrier to academic success. Addressing food insecurity among dental students is necessary to ensure equitable opportunities for a healthy workforce in the future.

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