Zhejiang Academy of Higher Education, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 18;19(20):13483. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192013483.
COVID-19 remains an extreme threat in higher education settings, even during the off-peak period. Appropriate protective measures have been suggested to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in a large population context. Undergraduate students represent a highly vulnerable fraction of the population, so their COVID-19 protective behaviors play critical roles in enabling successful pandemic prevention. Hence, this study aims to understand what and how individual factors contribute to undergraduate students' protective behaviors. After building multigroup structural equation models using data acquired from the survey taken by 991 undergraduates at a large research university in eastern China, I found that students' COVID-19 awareness was positively associated with their protective behaviors, such as wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer, and maintaining proper social distance, but not with getting vaccinated. In addition, I found students with higher COVID-19 awareness were more likely to have more COVID-19 knowledge than those with less awareness. Furthermore, sex differences were observed in the mediation effects of COVID-19 awareness on wearing a mask and getting vaccinated, via COVID-19 knowledge, respectively. The results of this study have implications in helping higher education stakeholders enact effective measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
在疫情非高峰期，新冠疫情对高等教育领域仍然构成极大威胁。人们提出了适当的防护措施，以防止在人口众多的情况下新冠疫情的传播。本科生是人口中非常脆弱的一部分，因此他们的新冠防护行为在成功预防大流行方面起着至关重要的作用。因此，本研究旨在了解个人因素如何以及在何种程度上促进本科生的防护行为。我使用中国东部一所大型研究型大学的 991 名本科生的调查数据构建了多群组结构方程模型，发现学生的新冠意识与他们的防护行为（如戴口罩、使用洗手液和保持适当的社交距离）呈正相关，但与接种疫苗无关。此外，我发现新冠意识较高的学生比意识较低的学生更有可能掌握更多的新冠知识。此外，通过新冠知识，分别观察到了性别差异在新冠意识对戴口罩和接种疫苗的中介作用中的表现。本研究结果有助于高等教育利益相关者采取有效措施，防止疫情蔓延。
