Behaviors and attitudes of college students during an academic semester at two Wisconsin universities during the COVID-19 pandemic

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Am Coll Health
• Personal Author:
  Rosenblum, Hannah G. ; Segaloff, Hannah E. ; Cole, Devlin ; Lee, Christine C. ; Currie, Dustin W. ; Abedi, Glen R. ; Remington, Patrick L. ; Kelly, G. Patrick ; Pitts, Collin ; Langolf, Kimberly ; Kahrs, Juliana ; Leibold, Kurt ; Westergaard, Ryan P. ; Hsu, Christopher H. ; Kirking, Hannah L. ; Tate, Jacqueline E.
• Description:
  Objective:
  
  Characterize college student COVID-19 behaviors and attitudes during the early pandemic.
  
  Participants:
  
  Students on two university campuses in Wisconsin.
  
  Methods:
  
  Surveys administered in September and November 2020.
  
  Results:
  
  Few students (3–19%) participated in most in-person activities during the semester, with eating at restaurants as the exception (72–80%) and attending work (35%) and parties (33%) also reported more frequently. The majority wore masks in public (94–99%), but comparatively fewer (42%) did so at parties. Mask-wearing at parties decreased from September to November (p < 0.05). Students attending parties, or consuming more alcohol, were less concerned and more likely to take COVID-19-associated risks.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Students were motivated to adhere to COVID-19 prevention measures but gathered socially. Though there was frequent public masking, mask-wearing at parties declined in November and may represent pandemic fatigue. High-yield strategies for decreasing viral spread may include changing masking social norms and engaging with students about creative risk-reduction strategies.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult COVID-19 Female Humans Male Masks Pandemics SARS-CoV-2 Students Surveys And Questionnaires Universities Wisconsin Young Adult

  More +
• Keywords:
  College Campuses College Students Mask-wearing Physical Distancing
• Source:
  J Am Coll Health. 72(5):1450-1457
• Pubmed ID:
  35776927
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11359481
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  72
• Issue:
  5
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:472bee8e64b10fe86784c8567f7ace719aca78a8aaf482830f8015c34210d7ba6457e204079729a1a12b189fee3026a663f9895e31eae9079f2877c8b3550ffe
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/160688/cdc_160688_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 686.96 KB ]