Abouelenin, M;
Hu, Y;
(2024)
Food insecurity and affective well-being during COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa.
Journal of Affective Disorders
, 350
pp. 741-745.
10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.103.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and climate crises have led to unprecedented food insecurity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with ramifications for people's affective well-being. The aim of the study is to explore the relationship between food insecurity and affective well-being in Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt, considering varied social protection responses across these countries. METHODS: We analyzed data from the COVID-19 MENA Monitor Household Panel Survey (2020–2021) and employed hybrid mixed-effects models to differentiate within-person and between-person associations between food insecurity and affective well-being. RESULTS: The findings show that higher food insecurity is associated with worse affective well-being, with significant cross-country differences. In Jordan, where extensive social protection was enacted during the pandemic, there is no significant within- or between-person association between food insecurity and affective well-being. By contrast, significant between-person associations are found in Morocco and Egypt, while within- and between-person associations are evidenced in Tunisia. These associations hold strong after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and household circumstances. LIMITATIONS: Given COVID-19 restrictions, the sample was limited to the universe of working-age (18–64) mobile phone users, a demographic that often corresponds to higher levels of education and income. Therefore, the results of this study likely provide conservative estimates of the association between food insecurity and affective well-being in the full population. CONCLUSIONS: The findings emphasize the critical role of food security in maintaining affective well-being, particularly in non-Western contexts during global crises. They underline the importance of integrating food security considerations into mental health care strategies and interventions.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Food insecurity and affective well-being during COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa |
| Location: | Netherlands |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.103 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.103 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Affective well-being, COVID-19, Cross-national, Food insecurity, Middle East, North Africa |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10210745 |
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