Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC.
Ann Behav Med. 2020 Aug 8;54(8):548-556. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaaa049.
Social distancing-when people limit close contact with others outside their household-is a primary intervention available to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of social distancing is unlikely to change until effective treatments or vaccines become widely available. However, relatively little is known about how best to promote social distancing. Applying knowledge from social and behavioral research on conventional health behaviors (e.g., smoking, physical activity) to support public health efforts and research on social distancing is promising, but empirical evidence supporting this approach is needed.
We examined whether one type of social distancing behavior-reduced movement outside the home-was associated with conventional health behaviors.
We examined the association between GPS-derived movement behavior in 2,858 counties in USA from March 1 to April 7, 2020 and the prevalence of county-level indicators influenced by residents' conventional health behaviors.
Changes in movement were associated with conventional health behaviors, and the magnitude of these associations were similar to the associations among the conventional health behaviors. Counties with healthier behaviors-particularly less obesity and greater physical activity-evidenced greater reduction in movement outside the home during the initial phases of the pandemic in the USA.
Social distancing, in the form of reduced movement outside the home, is associated with conventional health behaviors. Existing scientific literature on health behavior and health behavior change can be more confidently used to promote social distancing behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
社交距离——当人们限制与家庭以外的其他人的密切接触时——是对抗 COVID-19 大流行的主要干预措施。在有效治疗方法或疫苗广泛普及之前，社交距离的重要性不太可能改变。然而，对于如何最好地促进社交距离，我们知之甚少。将社会和行为研究中关于常规健康行为（例如，吸烟、体育锻炼）的知识应用于支持公共卫生工作和社交距离研究是有希望的，但需要有支持这种方法的经验证据。
我们研究了一种社交距离行为（减少家庭以外的活动）是否与常规健康行为有关。
我们研究了 2020 年 3 月 1 日至 4 月 7 日期间美国 2858 个县的 GPS 衍生活动行为与受居民常规健康行为影响的县一级指标的流行率之间的关联。
活动的变化与常规健康行为有关，这些关联的幅度与常规健康行为之间的关联相似。在新冠疫情的初始阶段，美国行为更健康的县——特别是肥胖率更低、体育锻炼更多的县——家庭外活动的减少幅度更大。
以减少家庭外活动形式的社交距离与常规健康行为有关。现有的关于健康行为和健康行为改变的科学文献可以更有信心地用于在 COVID-19 大流行期间促进社交距离行为。
