COVID-19 in Bangladesh: Measuring differences in individual precautionary behaviors among young adults

Abstract

Aim: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has already hit Bangladesh, and various control measures have been taken to flatten the epidemic curve. Due to the current demographic distribution in Bangladesh, young adults are vital to the demography of the country. Therefore, their precautionary behavior is very important to ensure the success of preventive policies. This exploratory study examined the differences in the adoption of precautionary behaviors among young adults, and estimated and compared the predictors of precautionary behavior adoption among young adults living in the capital city Dhaka and a nearby district, Tangail. Subject and Methods: A total of 350 respondents from each district participated in the study. ANOVA and two-sample t-tests were utilized to detect differences in precautionary behavior across demographic groups of young adults, and quantile regression modeling was used to find the predictors of adopting precautionary behaviors and to compare these predictors between the two districts. Results: Individuals who had a postgraduate education and had good mental health tended to show better precautionary behaviors in Dhaka. Female respondents from Tangail who had no psychological distress took precautionary behaviors more often than their counterparts. However, no significant differences in the adoption of precautionary behaviors to prevent COVID-19 among young adults were found between the two districts. Better self-control ability, higher education, and good mental health emerged as factors that significantly shaped the precautionary behaviors of young adults in this study. Conclusion: Having better knowledge did not ensure better adoption of precautionary behaviors among the participants. In effect, strong intervention by the government to keep people at home and distant from each other and continued lockdown for several more days are probable immediate solutions. At the same time, the economic burden on lower-income people should be addressed.

What Makes Young People Think Positively About Social Distancing During the Corona Crisis in Germany?

“…Knowledge played only a marginally significant role. This is in line with previous literature where a significant effect had been found in the case of HIV (DiClemente et al, 1986 , 1988 ), but not in the case COVID-19 (Imtiaz et al, 2020 ). Contrary to Lunn et al ( 2020 ) and Lammers et al ( 2020 ), we did not find a significant effect of knowledge on exponential growth (this, however, could simply be a sample size effect).…”

“…Similar results have also been found in the context of influenza A/H1N1 (Lin et al, 2011 ), see also (Akan et al, 2010 ). In the case of COVID-19, the evidence is so far mixed: while (Imtiaz et al, 2020 ) finds a significant positive effect of education on precautionary behavior, they did not find an effect of better general knowledge about COVID-19. A better understanding of the nature of exponential growth, however, can motivate social distancing, as has been shown in controlled experiments (Lammers et al, 2020 ; Lunn et al, 2020 ).…”

Changes in Preventive Behavior During the First 3 Months of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Iran

“…Our results were similar to a study during Covid-19 (34). According to the some studies during a pandemic; compliance rates were associated with some demographic characteristics: female and healthcare workers had higher overall compliance scores than male and other occupational groups (34,35). Compared with the general population, health care providers have higher health literacy as well as, due to duty calls, they are more likely to come in contact with COVID-19 carriers putting them at a greater risk of contracting the infection and spreading it to others (36).…”

“…Our findings demonstrated that engagement in the preventive behaviors was significantly higher in female and health workers than other participants. Our results were similar to a study during Covid-19 (34). According to the some studies during a pandemic; compliance rates were associated with some demographic characteristics: female and healthcare workers had higher overall compliance scores than male and other occupational groups (34,35).…”

A Systematic Review on the Use of AI and ML for Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Only one cross-country research [52] has been conducted with the purpose of sustainable development, where correlation among confirmed cases and environmental and demographic factors of four different countries were calculated and compared. The study conducted by Imtiaz et al [79] in the context of a developing country (Bangladesh), explored the factors for the adoption precautionary measurements and authors in [80] exploit the challenges faced by a specific subset of the population: the Rohingya refugees. Other cross-country research studies, and contextual studies focusing on a specific demographic can be pursued in the future to determine if the virus spread depends on environmental factors.…”