The Relationship Between Undergraduate Hybrid Identities Eating Behaviors and Well-being After Moving to a New Environment (2023)

Undergraduate: Yasmine Wehbi

Faculty Advisor: Jessica Soldavini
Department: Nutrition

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This study examines the changed dietary behaviors and factors related to ethnic/cultural/religious (ECR) dietary assimilation in students with hybrid identities after moving to a new location to attend university in the United States. Around 59 student ECR organizations at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill were invited and sent an email link to allow student members to take part in the research. The study had about 20 students participating in the Qualtrics survey and 6 participated in a semi-structured interview over zoom. A qualitative research and inductive approach were used for data collection and analysis. A survey question and interview question/guide were developed to examine the dietary habits of students with hybrid identities. The results show that the students encountered many dietary challenges and factors due to the lack of consumption of ECR foods. The key dietary challenges include: campus access to ECR, transportation, religion, and more. Furthermore, the effects of dietary changes were associated with an impact on students' mental and physical health. Largely being the loss of ECR identity.

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