Frame (Research Blog #7)

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

I am using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to help me analyze and explain my project. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a concept in psychology proposed by psychologist Abraham Maslow that categorizes needs into a pyramid shape, with our most basic needs (our physiological needs) at the bottom. We must fulfill a level of need before we can focus on pursuing and fulfilling higher needs. Using this concept as a framework will be useful to my project because it can show how students who are experiencing food and/or housing insecurity are not meeting their physiological needs, making it so that it is harder (or impossible) for them to focus on higher needs, like security, love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Their experience with food and/or housing insecurity would negatively impact their academic performance because they are too busy focusing on meeting their basic needs and surviving.


Various sources within my Works Cited connect with this frame because basic needs insecurity means that someone is not fulfilling their physiological needs (the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy). One specific source discussing basic needs insecurity mentions Maslow’s Hierarchy and how it can help explain worsened academic performance due to food and/or housing insecurity. Silva et al. explains, “According to Maslow, some of these basic physiological needs include food and shelter. Therefore, unstable access to food and shelter may significantly impact an individual’s ability to achieve higher human needs, such as feeling safe, secure, confident, and loved. … When a student is having trouble meeting their basic physiological needs—such as getting their next meal or where they will sleep that night—concentrating and performing well in school may be a futile endeavor” (Silva et al. 295). 



Silva, Meghan R., et al. “The Relationship Between Food Security, Housing Stability, and School Performance Among College Students in an Urban University.” Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, vol. 19, no. 3, Nov. 2017, pp. 284–299, doi:10.1177/1521025115621918.

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