. 2022 Jun 21;12(1):10436.

doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-14431-3.

Patterns of social mixing in England changed in line with restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic (September 2020 to April 2022)

Louise E Smith^{1

2

3}, Henry W W Potts⁴, Richard Amlȏt^{5

6}, Nicola T Fear^{7

8

9}, Susan Michie¹⁰, G James Rubin^{7

5

9}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. louise.e.smith@kcl.ac.uk.
² NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, Weston Education Centre, King's College London, Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK. louise.e.smith@kcl.ac.uk.
³ Department of Psychological Medicine, Weston Education Centre, King's College London, Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK. louise.e.smith@kcl.ac.uk.
⁴ Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, 222 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DA, UK.
⁵ NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, Weston Education Centre, King's College London, Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK.
⁶ Behavioural Science and Insights Unit, UK Health Security Agency, Porton Down, Wiltshire, Salisbury, SP4 0JG, UK.
⁷ Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
⁸ King's Centre for Military Health Research and Academic Department of Military Mental Health, King's College London, London, UK.
⁹ Department of Psychological Medicine, Weston Education Centre, King's College London, Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK.
¹⁰ Centre for Behaviour Change, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7HB, UK.

PMID: 35729196
PMCID: PMC9212204
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14431-3

Patterns of social mixing in England changed in line with restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic (September 2020 to April 2022)

Louise E Smith et al. Sci Rep. 2022.

. 2022 Jun 21;12(1):10436.

doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-14431-3.

Authors

Louise E Smith^{1

2

3}, Henry W W Potts⁴, Richard Amlȏt^{5

6}, Nicola T Fear^{7

8

9}, Susan Michie¹⁰, G James Rubin^{7

5

9}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. louise.e.smith@kcl.ac.uk.
² NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, Weston Education Centre, King's College London, Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK. louise.e.smith@kcl.ac.uk.
³ Department of Psychological Medicine, Weston Education Centre, King's College London, Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK. louise.e.smith@kcl.ac.uk.
⁴ Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, 222 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DA, UK.
⁵ NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, Weston Education Centre, King's College London, Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK.
⁶ Behavioural Science and Insights Unit, UK Health Security Agency, Porton Down, Wiltshire, Salisbury, SP4 0JG, UK.
⁷ Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
⁸ King's Centre for Military Health Research and Academic Department of Military Mental Health, King's College London, London, UK.
⁹ Department of Psychological Medicine, Weston Education Centre, King's College London, Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK.
¹⁰ Centre for Behaviour Change, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7HB, UK.

PMID: 35729196
PMCID: PMC9212204
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14431-3

Abstract

Social mixing contributes to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We developed a composite measure for risky social mixing, investigating changes during the pandemic and factors associated with risky mixing. Forty-five waves of online cross-sectional surveys were used (n = 78,917 responses; 14 September 2020 to 13 April 2022). We investigated socio-demographic, contextual and psychological factors associated with engaging in highest risk social mixing in England at seven timepoints. Patterns of social mixing varied over time, broadly in line with changes in restrictions. Engaging in highest risk social mixing was associated with being younger, less worried about COVID-19, perceiving a lower risk of COVID-19, perceiving COVID-19 to be a less severe illness, thinking the risks of COVID-19 were being exaggerated, not agreeing that one's personal behaviour had an impact on how COVID-19 spreads, and not agreeing that information from the UK Government about COVID-19 can be trusted. Our composite measure for risky social mixing varied in line with restrictions in place at the time of data collection, providing some validation of the measure. While messages targeting psychological factors may reduce higher risk social mixing, achieving a large change in risky social mixing in a short space of time may necessitate a reimposition of restrictions.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors had financial support from NIHR for the submitted work; RA is an employee of the UK Health Security Agency; HWWP has received additional salary support from Public Health England and NHS England; HWWP receives consultancy fees to his employer from Ipsos MORI and has a PhD student who works at and has fees paid by Astra Zeneca; NTF is a participant of an independent group advising NHS Digital on the release of patient data. At the time of writing GJR is acting as an expert witness in an unrelated case involving Bayer PLC, supported by LS. All authors were participants of the UK’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies or its subgroups.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Categorisation of risk ratings.

**Figure 2**
Pattern of risky social mixing between September 2020 and April 2022. Error bars are 95% confidence intervals. The grey line shows the number of new SARS-CoV-2 cases per day (7-day average) in England. Case rates from April 2022 are an underestimate as only selected people were eligible for testing.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Patterns of social mixing in England changed in line with restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic (September 2020 to April 2022)

Affiliations

Patterns of social mixing in England changed in line with restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic (September 2020 to April 2022)

Authors

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Conflict of interest statement

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