Preventive Behavioral Insights for Emerging Adults: A Survey during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Emerging adulthood is an important period for establishing health behavior patterns in life. This study aimed to examine factors related to preventive behaviors of emerging adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. A descriptive online survey design was used. Data were collected using a self-administrated, 28-item questionnaire completed by 239 undergraduate students from a university in Seoul, South Korea. The questionnaire was developed based on previous studies and the guidelines of the World Health Organization about COVID-19 preventive behaviors. The mean age of participants was 21.97 years, and the average score for COVID-19 preventive behaviors was 4.13 (SD: +/- 0.42) on a 5-point scale. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that subjective norms related to parents (beta = 0.425, p < 0.001), issue involvement related to COVID-19 (beta = 0.160, p = 0.024), and sex (beta = 0.137, p = 0.029) were significant factors related to preventive behaviors of emerging adults after controlling for demographic characteristics. The variables explained 20.1% of the variance in preventive behaviors. The results of this study suggest that better strategies for subjective norms related to parents and issue involvement related to COVID-19 must be considered to improve emerging adults' preventive behaviors.