Correlates of COVID-19 Preventative Behaviors before and after Vaccination Availability

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, various preventative behaviors and eventually vaccinations became available to decrease the spread of the virus. The current study examined a variety of variables (i.e., age, COVID-19-related economic hardship, interpersonal concern, personality, fear of COVID-19, normative beliefs, political beliefs, and vaccine hesitancy) to better understand predictors of preventative behaviors and vaccination status at different points throughout the pandemic. Online questionnaires, administered through Qualtrics, were used to collect data using two convenience samples. One was a small sample (N = 44) of non-student participants before the vaccine was readily available. The other sample (N = 274) included college student participants and occurred after the vaccine had been available to all participants. Results suggest that several variables (i.e., fear of COVID-19, normative beliefs, interpersonal concern, and openness) were consistent predictors of public health behaviors at both points in time and across differently aged samples. Other variables (i.e., agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and economic hardship) were less consistent with their relationships with public health behaviors. Implications related to both research and public health are discussed.