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. 2021 Nov;35(8):1095-1104.
doi: 10.1177/08901171211020997. Epub 2021 Jun 2.

COVID-19 Experiences and Social Distancing: Insights From the Theory of Planned Behavior

Rochelle L Frounfelker  1 , Tara Santavicca  2 , Zhi Yin Li  2 , Diana Miconi  1 , Vivek Venkatesh  3 , Cecile Rousseau  1
Affiliations

COVID-19 Experiences and Social Distancing: Insights From the Theory of Planned Behavior

Rochelle L Frounfelker et al. Am J Health Promot. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study is to identify the relationship between COVID-19 experiences, perceived COVID-19 behavioral control, social norms and attitudes, and future intention to follow social distancing guidelines.

Design: This is a cross-sectional study.

Setting: Participants responded to an on-line survey in June 2020.

Subjects: The study included 3,183 residents within Quebec, Canada aged 18 and over.

Measures: Measures include perceived COVID-19 related discrimination, fear of COVID-19 infection, prior exposure to COVID-19, and prior social distancing behavior. Participants self-reported attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and perceived norms related to social distancing. Finally, we measured social distancing behavioral intention.

Analysis: We evaluated a theory of planned behavior (TPB) measurement model of social distancing using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The association between COVID-19 perceived discrimination, fear of infection, previous social distancing behavior, exposure to COVID-19, TPB constructs and behavioral intentions to social distance were estimated using SEM path analysis.

Results: TPB constructs were positively associated with intention to follow social distancing guidelines. Fear of COVID-19 infection and prior social distancing behavior were positively associated with behavioral intentions. In contrast, perceived discrimination was negatively associated with the outcome. Associations between fear of COVID-19, perceived COVID-19 discrimination and behavioral intentions were partially mediated by constructs of TPB.

Conclusions: COVID-19 prevention efforts designed to emphasize positive attitudes, perceived control, and social norms around social distancing should carefully balance campaigns that heighten fear of infection along with anti- discrimination messaging.

Keywords: COVID-19; discrimination; health behavior; health communication; social distancing.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Dr. Frounfelker, Ms. Santavicca, Ms. Li, Dr. Miconi, Dr. Venkatesh, and Dr. Rousseau were supported by the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4) with seed funding from the MUHC Foundation. The study sponsor had no role in study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript, or decision to submit the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Conceptual model of relationship between COVID-19 experiences, TPB constructs, and behavioral intentions.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Confirmatory factor analysis of social distancing TPB model (N = 3,183).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Significant pathways between COVID-19 experiences, TPB constructs, and behavioral intentions. *Covariances between independent variables and mediators are omitted from the diagram for ease of viewing, as are final retained sociodemographic variables of gender, age, physical health and income; Model fit statistics: ×2 (226.16) = p < .001, RMSEA = .051, CFI = .983, SRMR not reported because of missing values.
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