Association between the level of concern for COVID-19 and information sources among college students

Abstract

Objective We administered an online survey to 185 college students to assess their level of concern, information sources, and mitigation strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Responses from only students enrolled in college during 2021 were analyzed. We sought to examine their level of concern as defined as utilization of protective measures and/or personal protective equipment and/or social distancing and/or following other public health recommendations from public health sources. Results College students that participated in our survey used various sources to obtain information about COVID-19 that included social media and other sources (58.92%), followed by mainstream media (27.57%) and email from their university/college (13.51%). Students who learned about the pandemic from social media (65.94%) were concerned; however, only 23.19% and 10.87% of the participants that sourced information from mainstream media and their schools’ email, respectively, were concerned. Furthermore, students who received information from social media and other sources were three times more likely to be concerned about COVID-19 than students who received information from the university via email.