Becoming socialized in a COVID-19 World: A survey exploring the response of regional Australians’ health-related behavior patterns

Figures & data

Figure 1. Most frequently used socialization agents.

Table 1. Sample characteristics.

Sample characteristics compared with Population of the Murrumbidgee Far Western and Western NSW regions
Demographic characteristic	Sample (n = 701)	Population of Murrumbidgee, Far Western and Western NSW region*	Chi Square test
Age brackets (Valid %)a
18-29	21.6%	15.4%	p = 0.000
30-49	33.6%	31.5%
50-69	31.2%	33.5%
70+	13.6%	19.5%
Gender
Female	436 (63.4%)	50.10%	p = 0.000
Male	249 (36.6%)	49.90%
Proportion of First Nation Australians that responded (n = 686)
Aboriginal/TSI	60 (8.6%)	13%	p = 0.000
Non-Aboriginal/TSI or Prefer not to say	641 (91.4%)	87%

^* Population statistics provided by WNSWLHD Health Intelligence Unit (2020).

^aAge (m = 48yrs, SD 17.8),

Table 2. The type of information sought.

	Yes	No
[Did you seek out information about…] COVID-19 (e.g. the virus itself, its’ spread, etc.)	74.60%	25.40%
[Did you seek out information about…] Rules and changes to the rules (e.g. social distancing, travel, work, school, etc.)	84.60%	15.40%
[Did you seek out information about…] Recommended preventative measures (e.g. wearing gloves, masks, hand washing, etc.)	79.10%	20.90%

Figure 2. Number of socialization agents people used.

Figure 3. Socialization agents perceived to be most influential.

Figure 4. Profile of groups based on how often they used different socialization agents.

NB: These groups are named following the discussion of their characteristics in Table 3

Table 3. Significant difference across segments.

	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
	Younger, rule-driven, females	Older, mass media users with best intentions	Younger, info seeking adopters	Non-info seeking, non-adopters	Significant difference
	Mean/Row%				Sig f/ or Chi^2
Size (n = 658)	228 (34.7%)	121 (18.4%)	185 (28.1%)	124 (18.8%)
Gender Male Female (0 = male, 1 = female)	0.74	0.56	0.60	0.60	Sig .007
Age Midpoints	42	62	42	53	Sig .000
Highest level of education	4.25	4.40	4.58	3.99	Sig .003
Identifies as First Nations	3.5% of respondents in this group	2.5% of respondents in this group	19% of respondents in this group	7.3% of respondents in this group	Sig .001
Reported Intention to adopt preventative measures^a	4.46	4.50	4.41	4.15	Sig .000
Reported Actual Adoption of Preventative Measures^b	4.05	4.04	4.21	3.89	Sig .005
Info seeking about COVID (Yes)	84.1%	73.6%	83.7%	45.5%	Sig .001
Info seeking about Rules (Yes)	94.7%	89.1%	88%	58.3%	Sig .001
Info seeking about Preventative Measures (Yes)	87.2%	81%	88%	51.2%	Sig .001

^a The average intention to comply for the whole sample was 4.38 where 1 was no intention to comply and 5 was complete compliance, 90.9% intended to comply mostly or completely.

^b The average actual adoption for the whole sample was 4.06 where 1 was not at all and 5 was all of the time.

Health Intelligence Unit. (2020). Population statistics. Provided by Western NSW Local Health District, www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Research-and-Demography/Population-projections/Projections.

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