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., Smith Jervelund, S., Dalgaard Guldager, J., Quickfall, A., Rabiee-Khan, F., Oddsson, G., van der Wel, K., Sarasjarvi, S., Olafsdottir, S., Buffel, V., Skalicka, V. and Van de Velde, S. (2022) 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. Preventative Medicine. ISSN 0091-7435

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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-sectionalsubsample (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 femaleand being worried about getting infected with COVID-19 (individuallevel), 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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2022 Elsevier. This is an author-produced version of a paper accepted for publication in Preventative Medicine. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Divisions:	School of Teacher Development
Depositing User:	Aimee Quickfall
Date Deposited:	05 Sep 2022 09:28
Last Modified:	12 Sep 2022 09:06
URI:	https://bgro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/967

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