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Background: The health belief model suggests that individuals' beliefs affect behaviors associated with health. This study examined whether Ohioans' pre-existing medical health diagnoses affected their belief about personal health risk and their compliance with social distancing during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Prior research examining physical and mental diagnoses and social distancing compliance is nearly nonexistent. We examined whether physical and mental health diagnoses influenced individuals' beliefs that their health is at risk and their adherence with social distancing guidelines. Methods: The study used longitudinal cohort data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) (n = 790), which surveyed Ohioans prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dependent variables included belief that an individual's own health was at risk and social distancing compliance. Independent variables included physical and mental health diagnoses, pandemic-related factors (fear of COVID-19, political beliefs about the pandemic, friends social distance, family social distance, COVID-19 exposure), and sociodemographic variables (age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational level). Results: Individuals who had a pre-existing physical health diagnosis were more likely to believe that their personal health was at risk during the pandemic but were not more likely to comply with social distancing guidelines. In contrast, individuals who had a pre-existing mental health diagnosis were more compliant with social distancing guidelines but were not more likely to believe their personal health was at risk. Individuals who expressed greater fear of COVID-19 believed their health is more at risk than those who expressed lower levels of fear. Conclusion: Health considerations are important to account for in assessments of responses to the pandemic, beliefs about personal health risk, and social distancing behavior. Additional research is needed to understand the divergence in the findings regarding physical health, beliefs about personal health risk, and social distancing compliance. Further, research is needed to understand how mental health issues impact decision-making related to social distancing compliance.
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Adolescents' adherence to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines during the COVID‐19 pandemic
Background:The outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in theUnited States resulted in safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC) intended to curb the spread of the virus. Adolescents are poten-tially at risk for disregarding these guidelines due to their reduced psychosocial matu-rity compared with adults. The current study examined the relationship betweenadolescents' psychosocial maturity, perceived importance of the CDC guidelines andadherence to the CDC guidelines within some of the highest risk groups for contract-ing COVID-19 in a county particularly impacted by the pandemic (i.e., Hispanic andlow-SES youth in El Paso, Texas).Methods:Participants completed a phone interview with a research assistant regard-ing their thoughts and behaviours in the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic.Adolescents (N=68) were 15.38 years old on average (SD=1.05,range=13, 17),predominantly male (60.3%) and nearly exclusively Hispanic/Latino (94.1%).Results:Results indicated that although more psychosocially mature adolescentsreported greater adherence to the CDC guidelines than less psychosocially matureadolescents, the association between psychosocial maturity and adherence was fullymediated by how important adolescents felt it was to follow the guidelines. Specifi-cally, greater perceived importance was associated with greater adherence to theguidelines.Conclusions:The current study found that more psychosocially mature adolescentsadhere to CDC's safety guidelines better than less psychosocially mature adolescentsbecause they are more likely to view the guidelines as important. Information thatattempts to increase adolescent adherence to the guidelines should thereforeemphasize not only that following the guidelines is important, butwhyfollowing theguidelines is so important. Less psychosocially mature adolescents may benefit mostfrom interventions efforts and targeted messages regarding the importance offollowing the CDC's guidelines, as more psychosocially mature adolescents alreadyrecognize this importance.
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- PAR ID:
- 10323534
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Child: Care, Health and Development
- ISSN:
- 0305-1862
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1-10
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.13012
