Inflation, Food Insecurity, and Mental Health: Gen Z's Burden in Emerging Europe

The survey initially collected responses from a total of 554 participants. After a thorough data cleaning, however, the final sample size was reduced to 517 legitimate responses. This reduction occurred because some participants did not provide complete answers to all the items on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) or the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Missing data on any of these key measures led to the exclusion of 37 respondents to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the analyses. The final dataset, therefore, consists of 517 fully completed surveys that were used in subsequent analyses. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee, Office of the Vice-Rector for Research.