1. Behaviors and attitudes of college students during an academic semester at two Wisconsin universities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Author
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Rosenblum, Hannah G., Segaloff, Hannah E., Cole, Devlin, Lee, Christine C., Currie, Dustin W., Abedi, Glen R., Remington, Patrick L., Kelly, G. Patrick, Pitts, Collin, Langolf, Kimberly, Kahrs, Juliana, Leibold, Kurt, Westergaard, Ryan P., Hsu, Christopher H., Kirking, Hannah L., and Tate, Jacqueline E.
- Subjects
REPEATED measures design ,WORK ,RESEARCH funding ,FOOD consumption ,RESTAURANTS ,RISK-taking behavior ,UNIVERSITIES & colleges ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics ,SURVEYS ,MOTIVATION (Psychology) ,HEALTH behavior ,MEDICAL masks ,PSYCHOLOGY of college students ,STUDENT attitudes ,COMPARATIVE studies ,ALCOHOL drinking ,COVID-19 pandemic ,COVID-19 ,SOCIAL distancing - Abstract
Characterize college student COVID-19 behaviors and attitudes during the early pandemic. Participants: Students on two university campuses in Wisconsin. Surveys administered in September and November 2020. Few students (3–19%) participated in most in-person activities during the semester, with eating at restaurants as the exception (72–80%) and attending work (35%) and parties (33%) also reported more frequently. The majority wore masks in public (94–99%), but comparatively fewer (42%) did so at parties. Mask-wearing at parties decreased from September to November (p < 0.05). Students attending parties, or consuming more alcohol, were less concerned and more likely to take COVID-19-associated risks. Students were motivated to adhere to COVID-19 prevention measures but gathered socially. Though there was frequent public masking, mask-wearing at parties declined in November and may represent pandemic fatigue. High-yield strategies for decreasing viral spread may include changing masking social norms and engaging with students about creative risk-reduction strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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