Repercussions of Perceptions and Attitudes Related the COVID-19 on Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors in Young Adults

Abstract

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the effects of young adult individuals’ perception of disease (PD), perception of causes (PC), perception of control (PCL), and avoidance behaviors (AB) related to the COVID-19 pandemic on their healthy lifestyle behaviors. 
 Methods: The study was carried out with a cross-sectional, correlational design at a university in the south of Turkey. The research was conducted online and completed with 786 young adults aged 18-24. The study data were collected using a socio-demographic form, the Scale for Evaluating Perceptions and Attitudes towards the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP). 
 Results: A moderate positive correlation was found between the mean HPLP total scores of the young adults and their mean scores for PC-Environmental, PCL, and PCL-Individual (p