Factors Associated with COVID-19 Mitigation Behavior among US Adults (original) (raw)
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PLOS ONE
The present study examined individual characteristics potentially associated with changes in mitigation behaviors (social distancing and hygiene) recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Analysis of online survey responses from 361 adults, ages 20–78, with US IP addresses, identified significant correlates of adaptive behavioral changes, with implications for preventive strategies and mental health needs. The extent to which individuals changed their mitigation behaviors was unrelated to self-rated health or concern regarding the personal effects of COVID-19 but was related to concern regarding the effects of the pandemic on others. Thus, mitigation behaviors do not appear to be primarily motivated by self-protection. Importantly, adaptive changes in mitigation behaviors increased with age. However, these changes, particularly those related to the frequency of close proximity encounters, appear to be due to age-related decreases in anxiety and depression. Taken...
Socio-Demographic Factors Associated with Self-Protecting Behavior during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Given the role of human behavior in the spread of disease, it is vital to understand what drives people to engage in or refrain from health-related behaviors during a pandemic. This paper examines factors associated with the adoption of self-protective health behaviors, such as social distancing and mask wearing, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in the USA. These behaviors not only reduce an individual's own risk of infection but also limit the spread of disease to others. Despite these dual benefits, universal adoption of these behaviors is not assured. We focus on the role of socioeconomic differences in explaining behavior, relying on data collected in April 2020 during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. The data include information on income, gender and race along with unique variables relevant to the current pandemic, such as work arrangements and housing quality. We find that higher income is associated with larger changes in self-protective behaviors. These gradients are partially explained by the fact that people with less income are more likely to report circumstances that make adopting self-protective behaviors more difficult, such as an inability to tele-work. Both in the USA and elsewhere, policies that assume universal compliance with self-protective measures-or that otherwise do not account for socioeconomic differences in the costs of doing so-are unlikely to be effective or sustainable.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2021
Understanding psychosocial correlates of engaging in health-protective behaviors during an infectious disease outbreak can inform targeted intervention strategies. We surveyed a national probability-based sample of 6,514 Americans, with three separate, consecutive representative cohorts between March 18, 2020 and April 18, 2020, as the U.S. COVID-19 epidemic began. Americans adopted many health-protective behaviors (e.g., hand hygiene, social distancing) early, performing them, on average, "most of the time," with frequency increasing over time. In covariateadjusted models, self-reported female gender (β = .16, p < .001), older age (β = .13, p < .001), more COVID-related secondary stressors (β = .17, p < .001), and greater perceptions of the risks of catching (β = .07, p = .001) and dying (β = .09, p < .001) from Coronavirus were associated with greater frequency of social-distancing behaviors. Wearing face masks and/or gloves was positively associated with female gender (β = .07, p < .001), older age (β = .14, p < .001), Black (β = .14, p < .001) and Hispanic (β = .07, p = .002) ethnicity, personal-COVID-19 exposure (β = .06, p < .001), reporting secondary stressors (β = .11, p < .001), and higher perceived risk of dying from Coronavirus (β = .13, p < .001). Participants in Cohorts 2 and 3 (compared to Cohort 1) wore face masks and gloves and engaged in social distancing more frequently. Overall, early in the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak, despite the novelty and uncertainty, Americans were responsive to guidelines, adopting them early and following them frequently. Public Significance Statement During the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., data from three nationally representative probability samples indicated that Americans appeared to understand the risk, adopted recommended health-protective behaviors early, and followed them frequently, with higher rates among female, older, Black and Hispanic respondents, and those reporting greater risk perceptions, exposures, and secondary stressors.
Socioeconomic Status, Crowding, COVID-19 Perceptions, and Protective Behavior
Health psychology bulletin, 2023
Crowding, a key factor that catalyzes the transmission of infectious diseases, disproportionately affects individuals from lower socioeconomic groups. The purpose of the current study was to assess whether socioeconomic status (SES) and crowding are related to differences in COVID-19 risk and efficacy perceptions and whether these perceptions explain protective behaviors. We specifically focused on household income and education as indicators of SES, and household crowding and public transportation use as indicators of crowding. Results from an online survey of 387 working adults, collected during the second peak of the pandemic in Turkey, showed that SES and public transportation use were negatively related to COVID-19 risk perceptions. On the other hand, SES, household crowding, and COVID-19 risk and efficacy perceptions were positively related to hygiene-related protective behavior and physical distancing. Moreover, the association between COVID-19 perceived protective norms and physical distancing was moderated by household crowding such that the positive relationship between protective norms and physical distancing was stronger at higher levels of domestic crowding. Yet, robustness checks suggest that further evidence is needed before to make any definitive conclusions about the interaction effect.
Psychological Predictors of Precautionary Behaviors in Response to COVID-19: A Structural Model
Frontiers in Psychology, 2021
The first lines of defense during an epidemic are behavioral interventions, including stay-at-home measures or precautionary health training, aimed at reducing contact and disease transmission. Examining the psychosocial variables that may lead to greater adoption of such precautionary behaviors is critical. The present study examines predictors of precautionary practices against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 709 Mexican participants from 24 states. The study was conducted via online questionnaire between the end of March and the beginning of April 2020, when the pandemic response was in its initial stages in Mexico. The instrument included demographic items, as well as scales assessing COVID-19-resembling symptoms, empathy, impulsivity, anhedonic depression, general health practices, alcohol consumption, and COVID-19-associated precautionary behaviors. Most participants reported adopting limited social distancing or other precautionary behaviors against COVID-19. The resul...
Journal of Community Health, 2020
Accurate understanding of COVID-19 safety recommendations early in the outbreak was complicated by inconsistencies in public health and media messages. We sought to characterize high-risk adults' knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms, prevention strategies, and prevention behaviors. We used data from the Chicago COVID-19 Comorbidities (C3) survey collected between March 13 thru March 20, 2020. A total of 673 predominately older adults with ≥ 1 chronic condition completed the telephone interview. Knowledge was assessed by asking participants to name three symptoms of COVID-19 and three actions to prevent infection. Participants were then asked if and how they had changed plans due to coronavirus. Most participants could identify three symptoms (71.0%) and three preventive actions (69.2%). Commonly reported symptoms included: fever (78.5%), cough (70.6%), and shortness of breath (45.2%); preventive actions included: washing hands (86.5%) and social distancing (86.2%). More than a third of participants reported social distancing themselves (38.3%), and 28.8% reported obtaining prescription medication to prepare for the outbreak. In multivariable analyses, no participant characteristics were associated with COVID-19 knowledge. Women were more likely than men, and Black adults were less likely than White adults to report practicing social distancing. Individuals with low health literacy were less likely to report obtaining medication supplies. In conclusion, though most higher-risk individuals were aware of social distancing as a prevention strategy early in the outbreak, less than half reported enacting it, and racial disparities were apparent. Consistent messaging and the provision of tangible resources may improve future adherence to safety recommendations.
Behind closed doors: Protective social behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic
PLOS ONE, 2023
The success of personal non-pharmaceutical interventions as a public health strategy requires a high level of compliance from individuals in private social settings. Strategies to increase compliance in these hard-to-reach settings depend upon a comprehensive understanding of the patterns and predictors of protective social behavior. Social cognitive models of protective behavior emphasize the contribution of individual-level factors while social-ecological models emphasize the contribution of environmental factors. This study draws on 28 waves of survey data from the Understanding Coronavirus in America survey to measure patterns of adherence to two protective social behaviors-private social-distancing behavior and private masking behavior-during the COVID-19 pandemic and to assess the role individual and environmental factors play in predicting adherence. Results show that patterns of adherence fall into three categories marked by high, moderate, and low levels of adherence, with just under half of respondents exhibiting a high level of adherence. Health beliefs emerge as the single strongest predictor of adherence. All other environmental and individual-level predictors have relatively poor predictive power or primarily indirect effects.
Factors Influencing COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors
Journal of Prevention
COVID-19 remains a public health emergency with prevention guidelines and mitigation strategies being constantly updated to curb the rapid spread of the disease. Despite proven successes of recommended preventive behaviors, there is low uptake of wearing a mask, washing of hands, and social distancing in the United States (US). The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence CO-VID-19 preventive behaviors. We used data from the nationally representative CO-VID-19 Household Impact Survey (n = 19,815) conducted in the US from April to June 2020. Chi-square (χ2) test and bivariate analyses were performed to compare study participants who used all COVID-19 related preventive behaviors and those who did not, and multivariate logistic regressions to determine associations across demographic and social characteristics. Of the 19,815 participants, 79.2% of participants reported practicing the aforementioned COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Further, non-Hispanic white, Spanish speaking, living in urban areas, of older age (60+), being female, having an education above an undergraduate, those with income levels $100K or more, living in the urban northeast region that trust and communicate frequently with family and neighbors were more likely to use all three preventive behaviors. Findings suggest a need for continued provision of information on prevention and vaccination importance, but expand efforts to target adopters of these behaviors and encourage them to share their uptake and adherence efforts. This type of horizontal communication where information is shared within trusted social networks can shape social norms that influence the uptake of COVID-19 preventive behaviors and slowly curb communal spread.
Social distancing in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States
PLOS ONE, 2020
In order to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, much of the US was placed under social distancing guidelines during March 2020. We characterized risk perceptions and adherence to social distancing recommendations in March 2020 among US adults aged 18+ in an online survey with age and gender quotas to match the general US population (N = 713). We used multivariable logistic and linear regression to estimate associations between age (by generational cohort) and these outcomes. The median perceived risk of infection with COVID-19 within the next month was 32%, and 65% of individuals were practicing more social distancing than before the outbreak. Baby Boomers had lower perceived risk than Millennials (-10.6%, 95% CI:-16.2%,-5.0%), yet were more frequently social distancing (OR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.05, 2.56). Public health outreach should focus on raising compliance with social distancing recommendations, especially among high risk groups. Efforts to address risk perceptions alone may be inadequate.
Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2020
BACKGROUND: The US outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) accelerated rapidly over a short time to become a public health crisis. OBJECTIVE: To assess how high-risk adults' COVID-19 knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, and sense of preparedness changed from the onset of the US outbreak (March 13-20, 2020) to the acceleration phase (March 27-April 7, 2020). DESIGN: Longitudinal, two-wave telephone survey. PARTICIPANTS: 588 predominately older adults with ≥ 1 chronic condition recruited from 4 active, federally funded studies in Chicago. MAIN MEASURES: Self-reported knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms and prevention, related beliefs, behaviors, and sense of preparedness. KEY RESULTS: From the onset to the acceleration phase, participants increasingly perceived COVID-19 to be a serious public health threat, reported more changes to their daily routine and plans, and reported greater preparedness. The proportion of respondents who believed they were "not at all likely" to get the virus decreased slightly (24.9 to 22.4%; p = 0.04), but there was no significant change in the proportion of those who were unable to accurately identify ways to prevent infection (29.2 to 25.7%; p 0.14). In multivariable analyses, black adults and those with lower health literacy were more likely to report less perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 (black adults: relative risk (RR) 1.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07-2.44, p = 0.02; marginal health literacy: RR 1.96, 95% CI 1.26-3.07, p < 0.01). Individuals with low health literacy remained more likely to feel unprepared for the outbreak (RR 1.80, 95% CI 1.11-2.92, p = 0.02) and to express confidence in the federal government response (RR 2.11, 95% CI 1.49-3.00, p < 0.001) CONCLUSIONS: Adults at higher risk for COVID-19 continue to lack critical knowledge about prevention. While participants reported greater changes to daily routines and plans, disparities continued to exist in perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 and in preparedness. Public health messaging to date may not be effectively reaching vulnerable communities.