Political stringency, infection rates, and higher education students' adherence to government measures in the Nordic countries and the UK during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak

Understanding predictors of adherence to governmental measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 is fundamental to guide health communication. This study examined whether political stringency and infection rates during the first wave of the pandemic were associated with higher education students...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Preventive medicine Vol. 164; p. 107245
Main Authors:	Berg-Beckhoff, G., Bask, M., Jervelund, S.S., Guldager, J.D., Quickfall, A., Rabiee Khan, F., Oddsson, G., van der Wel, K.A., Sarasjärvi, K.K., Olafsdottir, S., Buffel, V., Skalická, V., Van de Velde, S.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Elsevier Inc 01-11-2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc
Subjects:	Adherence Communicable Disease Control COVID-19 COVID-19 - epidemiology COVID-19 - prevention & control Cross-Sectional Studies Disease Outbreaks Female First wave pandemic Government Government measures Higher-education students Humans Male Pandemics - prevention & control Scandinavian and Nordic Countries - epidemiology Students Scandinavian and Nordic Countries COVID-19 Adherence Government measures First wave pandemic Higher-education students
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Summary:	Understanding predictors of adherence to governmental measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 is fundamental to guide health communication. This study examined whether political stringency and infection rates during the first wave of the pandemic were associated with higher education students' adherence to COVID-19 government measures in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden) and the United Kingdom. Both individual- and country-level data were used in present study. An international cross-sectional subsample (n = 10,345) of higher-education students was conducted in May–June 2020 to collect individual-level information on socio-demographics, study information, living arrangements, health behaviors, stress, and COVID-19-related concerns, including adherence to government measures. Country-level data on political stringency from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker and national infection rates were added to individual-level data. Multiple linear regression analyses stratified by country were conducted. Around 66% of students reported adhering to government measures, with the highest adherence in the UK (73%) followed by Iceland (72%), Denmark (69%), Norway (67%), Finland (64%) and Sweden (49%). Main predictors for higher adherence were older age, being female and being worried about getting infected with COVID-19 (individual-level), an increase in number of days since lockdown, political stringency, and information about COVID-19 mortality rates (country-level). However, incidence rate was an inconsistent predictor, which may be explained by imperfect data quality during the onset of the pandemic. We conclude that shorter lockdown periods and political stringency are associated with adherence to government measures among higher education students at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. •In the Nordic countries and the UK, 66% of students reported adhering to government measures during the first wave of COVID-19.•Main predictors for adherence were age, sex and being worried about getting infected with COVID-19.•Incidence rate of COVID-19 was an inconsistent predictor for adherence to governmental measures.•Lockdown periods and political stringency are associated with adherence to government measures among students.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0091-7435 1096-0260 1096-0260
DOI:	10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107245