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
Abstract: 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 educatio...
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ftunivantwerpen:c:irua:192121 2023-07-16T03:59:08+02:00 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 Berg-Beckhoff, G. Bask, M. Jervelund, S.S. Guldager, J.D. Quickfall, A. Khan, F. Rabiee Oddsson, G. van der Wel, K.A. Sarasjarvi, K.K. Olafsdottir, S. Buffel, Veerle Skalicka, V. Van de Velde, Sarah 2022 https://hdl.handle.net/10067/1921210151162165141 https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docstore/d:irua:15185 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/J.YPMED.2022.107245 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isi/000878634600028 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess 0091-7435 Preventive medicine Sociology Human medicine info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2022 ftunivantwerpen https://doi.org/10.1016/J.YPMED.2022.107245 2023-06-26T22:36:30Z Abstract: 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 infor-mation 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 gov-ernment measures among higher education students at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland IRUA - Institutional Repository van de Universiteit Antwerpen Norway Preventive Medicine 164 107245 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IRUA - Institutional Repository van de Universiteit Antwerpen |
op_collection_id |
ftunivantwerpen |
language |
English |
topic |
Sociology Human medicine |
spellingShingle |
Sociology Human medicine Berg-Beckhoff, G. Bask, M. Jervelund, S.S. Guldager, J.D. Quickfall, A. Khan, F. Rabiee Oddsson, G. van der Wel, K.A. Sarasjarvi, K.K. Olafsdottir, S. Buffel, Veerle Skalicka, V. Van de Velde, Sarah 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 |
topic_facet |
Sociology Human medicine |
description |
Abstract: 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 infor-mation 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 gov-ernment measures among higher education students at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Berg-Beckhoff, G. Bask, M. Jervelund, S.S. Guldager, J.D. Quickfall, A. Khan, F. Rabiee Oddsson, G. van der Wel, K.A. Sarasjarvi, K.K. Olafsdottir, S. Buffel, Veerle Skalicka, V. Van de Velde, Sarah |
author_facet |
Berg-Beckhoff, G. Bask, M. Jervelund, S.S. Guldager, J.D. Quickfall, A. Khan, F. Rabiee Oddsson, G. van der Wel, K.A. Sarasjarvi, K.K. Olafsdottir, S. Buffel, Veerle Skalicka, V. Van de Velde, Sarah |
author_sort |
Berg-Beckhoff, G. |
title |
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 |
title_short |
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 |
title_full |
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 |
title_fullStr |
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 |
title_full_unstemmed |
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 |
title_sort |
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 |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10067/1921210151162165141 https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docstore/d:irua:15185 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
0091-7435 Preventive medicine |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/J.YPMED.2022.107245 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isi/000878634600028 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.YPMED.2022.107245 |
container_title |
Preventive Medicine |
container_volume |
164 |
container_start_page |
107245 |
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1771546654603739136 |