RAPID: THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: PREDICTORS AND CONSEQUENCES OF COMPLIANCE WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING RECOMMENDATIONS

Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences - The need for social distancing measures implemented in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic is well established, but few studies have examined variability in compliance with this public health recommendation. It is particularly important to understand the social factors associated with this variability. This project builds on an ongoing longitudinal study of the life and relationship experiences of a large, diverse sample of young people interviewed first as adolescents, and subsequently interviewed multiple times as they have become adults. This provides an opportunity to interview these women and men to understand the process of navigating the guidelines, including: a) what factors predict more and less compliant responses to the social distancing guidelines; and b) what are the consequences of social distancing for emotional health, behavioral health, and relationship functioning. The findings of the project will alert researchers and policymakers to the myriad of personal and background characteristics that are associated with more or less compliance. This information will allow for the crafting of more effective public policies and messaging about social distancing, with the goal of promoting faster and more complete compliance during future pandemics.

Social distancing is a vital tool in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, but we know little about who complies with guidelines and who does not. This project will draw on six waves of previously collected survey data (n=1,321) from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) and a new COVID-19 online survey that will be administered to all respondents. These longitudinal data provide a unique opportunity to examine precursors and consequences of variations in response to the current social distancing guidelines. The design also includes in-depth phone interviews with a subset of respondents who were compliant (n=25) and others who did not change behavior or failed to comply consistently (n=25). The qualitative component will provide help to understand compliance as a process, and develop insights about the role of social networks in either encouraging or minimizing the need to comply. In addition to assessing the role of sociodemographic characteristics, the project will analyze the effects of prior adverse childhood and adolescent experiences, economic and social uncertainties, and network embeddedness as influences on levels of compliance. The availability of previous measures of social and behavioral health and prior relationship circumstances will allow the project to determine effects of social distancing and the experience of the pandemic, controlling for prior background. The project will also examine whether consistent reports of depression at prior waves exacerbate or dampen the effect of the recent experience of social distancing. The emphasis on social determinants provides a counterpoint to approaches that conceptualize compliance with health-promoting recommendations as an individualistic, largely cognitive process, and more broadly, will contribute to the emerging science of behavior change. Findings will inform sociological theories regarding identity and symbolic interaction, as well as theories of inequality, especially within the context of extreme events.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.