Students for others: Correlates of adherence to COVID-19 guidelines

Abstract

Objective: The present study aimed to determine correlates of adherence to COVID-19 health precautions among college students. Drawing from the literature, the following constructs were considered: self-efficacy, conscientiousness, social support, collectivism, empathy, and fear of COVID. Participants: Undergraduate students (N = 92) recruited from psychology classes and social media, living on and off-campus, served as participants during fall 2020. Methods: Participants completed a short self-report survey, delivered online, measuring adherence to COVID-19 health precautions and its possible correlates. Results: After preliminary comparisons showing no differences in adherence between students living on and off-campus, linear regression analyses of the complete sample revealed that the significant predictors of adherence were conscientiousness, collectivism, empathy, and fear of COVID. Conclusions: College student adherence was largely driven by interpersonal motivators coupled with a modest level of fear, rather than more general constructs. These findings offer implications for considering targets in public health campaigns delivered to college students.

Keywords:

• Adherence
• college students
• COVID-19
• health behaviors
• pandemic

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Fordham University.

Funding

This work was partially supported by the Y.H. Mirzoeff and Sons Foundation, Inc.