Factors influencing social distancing to prevent the community spread of COVID-19 among Chinese adults

Abstract

The global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 2020 has been an international public health threat. Early strong social distancing efforts is needed to stop transmission of the virus. The purpose of the present study is to identify individual and environmental factors related to individuals' compliance with the recommended social distancing, as well as the moderating role of social media in influencing individuals' implementation of social distancing. A total of 2130 Chinese adults were surveyed in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic regression analyses were performed to ascertain the predictors of social distancing. Overall, the majority of respondents (95.6%) reported compliance with social distancing. Women were more likely to practice social distancing compared to men (odds ratio [OR] = 3.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.93–5.02). Psychological distress, depressive symptoms, and social media were significant predictors of social distancing after controlling for other individual and environmental factors. Social media moderated the effects of psychological distress on social distancing (OR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.94–0.99). Findings from the study indicates that mental health status and social media are influential factors of social distancing, which have significant implications in enhancing the effectiveness of prevention strategies to contain the spread of COVID-19.

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“…Individual factors such as demographic information (age, race, sex, income, education), mental health status play a significant role in implementing it ( Hu, Roberts, Azevedo, & Milner, 2021 ). An online survey done to analyze the influential factors of social distancing, resulted that women abide by the rules three times more seriously than men as they are painted as homemakers and holds more responsibility for the family than men ( Guo, Qin, Wang, & Yang, 2021 ). Inherent psychological behavior of individuals like altruism, sensitivity to public shaming can inflict social distancing ( Cato et al, 2020 ).…”

“… Early implementation of community-level actions can control the transmission rate. ( Guo, Qin et al, 2021 ) Determined factors influencing social distancing in China Survey Women implied social distancing more seriously. Social media turned down psychological distress and influenced to follow social distancing while depression impeded.…”