Social Distancing, Stress and Unethical Behavior: A Study on Italian University Students in the First Period of Isolation Due to COVID-19

Online learning has unquestionably shaped contemporary education. The emergence and spread in recent months of the COVID-19 virus, with the attendant preventative implementation of social distancing, has significantly enhanced online learning’s influence. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where strict social distancing precautions were implemented early in the pandemic, thousands of college students were rapidly shifted from conventional to online instructional environments. Now that these students have a semester of experience with online learning, the time is propitious to explore these students’ online learning experiences. One concept in connection with which students’ online learning experiences have not been extensively studied is that of academic self-efficacy. The present study seeks to investigate Jeddah University students’ experiences with online learning in light of their assessments of their academic self-efficacy. Employing a combined descriptive/correlational research design organized around a pair of survey instruments—one designed to query students’ online learning experiences and a second designed to measure their senses of their academic self-efficacy—the present study investigates attitudes of a population of 1,167 Jeddah University undergraduate students randomly selected from the available pool of 16,893 individuals. The study finds that student attitudes with respect to both online learning and self-efficacy are high. It shows, furthermore, significant statistical correlation between students’ highly positive experiences with online instruction and their high senses of their academic self-efficacy. By developing the understanding regarding student attitudes and self-efficacy, this research opens avenues for further research into the connections between online learning and students’ self-perceptions. Moreover, the study’s findings hold significant implications for bettering Saudi Arabian e-learning, an outcome fully in keeping with the policy goals outlined in the 2030 vision.

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Prevalence of food addiction and its association with anxiety, depression, and adherence to social distancing measures in Brazilian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a nationwide study

Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia Bulimia and Obesity ◽

10.1007/s40519-021-01344-9 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

André Eduardo da Silva Júnior ◽

Mateus de Lima Macena ◽

Ana Debora Santos de Oliveira ◽

Dafiny Rodrigues Silva Praxedes ◽

Isabele Rejane de Oliveira Maranhão Pureza ◽

...

Keyword(s):

University Students ◽

Food Addiction ◽

Nationwide Study ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Anxiety Depression

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Knowledge, socio-cognitive perceptions and the practice of hand hygiene and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study of UK university students

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-021-10461-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Christine Barrett ◽

Kei Long Cheung

Keyword(s):

Risk Perception ◽

Hand Hygiene ◽

University Students ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Online Survey ◽

Time Factors ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Hygiene Behaviour

Abstract Background During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing and hand hygiene have been the primary means of reducing transmission in the absence of effective treatments or vaccines, but understanding of their determinants is limited. This study aimed to investigate knowledge and socio-cognitive perceptions, and their associations with such protective behaviours, in UK university students. Methods A cross-sectional online survey of 293 students was undertaken on 13 May 2020. Survey questions addressed demographics, knowledge of the disease and effectiveness of the protective measures, risk perception, socio-cognitive perceptions (e.g. attitude, social support, and self-efficacy), habit, time factors and trust, as well as the hand hygiene and social distancing behaviours. Multiple linear regression was used to identify the strongest associations of potential determinants with behaviour. Results Participants reported high levels of social distancing with 88.9% answering “Mostly” or “Always” for every activity, but only 42.0% reporting the same for all hand hygiene activities. Knowledge of the effectiveness of each activity in preventing transmission was high, with 90.7% and 93.5% respectively identifying at least 7 of 8 hand hygiene or 9 of 10 social distancing activities correctly. Habit (β = 0.39, p = 0.001) and time factors (β = 0.28, p = 0.001) were the greatest contributors to unique variance in hand hygiene behaviour, followed by ethnicity (β = − 0.13, p = 0.014) and risk perception (β = 0.13, p = 0.016). For social distancing behaviour, the determinants were self-efficacy (β = 0.25, p < 0.001), perceived advantages (β = 0.15, p = 0.022), trust in policy (β = 0.14, p = 0.026) and gender (β = − 0.14, p = 0.016). Regression models explained 40% hand hygiene and 25% social distancing variance. Conclusions This study indicated that communications about effectiveness of hand hygiene and social distancing behaviours had been effective in terms of knowledge acquisition. However, in the light of likely second waves of COVID-19, attention to maintaining social distancing behaviour and improving hand hygiene behaviour may need to address more difficult areas of changing habits, overcoming time factors and building trust, as well as interventions to increase self-efficacy and address risk perception concerns.

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Dietary intake of university students during COVID-19 social distancing in the Northeast of Brazil and associated factors

Appetite ◽

10.1016/j.appet.2021.105172 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 105172

Author(s):

Jerusa da Mota Santana ◽

Maria Patricia Milagres ◽

Caroline Silva dos Santos ◽

Jamille Marinho Brazil ◽

Evely Rocha Lima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

University Students ◽

Dietary Intake ◽

Associated Factors ◽

Social Distancing

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Using Machine Learning to Generate Novel Hypotheses: Increasing Optimism About COVID-19 Makes People Less Willing to Justify Unethical Behaviors

Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0956797620959594 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 31 (10) ◽

pp. 1222-1235

Author(s):

Abhishek Sheetal ◽

Zhiyu Feng ◽

Krishna Savani

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Deep Learning ◽

Unethical Behavior ◽

Past Research ◽

World Values Survey ◽

Learning Methods ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Machine Learning Methods ◽

Unethical Behaviors ◽

Deep Learning Model

How can we nudge people to not engage in unethical behaviors, such as hoarding and violating social-distancing guidelines, during the COVID-19 pandemic? Because past research on antecedents of unethical behavior has not provided a clear answer, we turned to machine learning to generate novel hypotheses. We trained a deep-learning model to predict whether or not World Values Survey respondents perceived unethical behaviors as justifiable, on the basis of their responses to 708 other items. The model identified optimism about the future of humanity as one of the top predictors of unethicality. A preregistered correlational study ( N = 218 U.S. residents) conceptually replicated this finding. A preregistered experiment ( N = 294 U.S. residents) provided causal support: Participants who read a scenario conveying optimism about the COVID-19 pandemic were less willing to justify hoarding and violating social-distancing guidelines than participants who read a scenario conveying pessimism. The findings suggest that optimism can help reduce unethicality, and they document the utility of machine-learning methods for generating novel hypotheses.

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Hygiene and social distancing as distinct public health related behaviours among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Social Psychological Bulletin ◽

10.32872/spb.4383 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Annelot Wismans ◽

Srebrenka Letina ◽

Roy Thurik ◽

Karl Wennberg ◽

Ingmar Franken ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

University Students ◽

Regression Analyses ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Composite Measures ◽

Health Measures ◽

Different Types ◽

Health Related ◽

Explained Variance ◽

Components Analysis

Prevailing research on individuals’ compliance with public health related behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic tends to study composite measures of multiple types of behaviours, without distinguishing between different types of behaviours. However, measures taken by governments involve adjustments concerning a range of different daily behaviours. In this study, we seek to explain students’ public health related compliance behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic by examining the underlying components of such behaviours. Subsequently, we investigate how these components relate to individual attitudes towards public health measures, descriptive norms among friends and family, and key demographics. We surveyed 7,403 university students in ten countries regarding these behaviours. Principal Components Analysis reveals that compliance related to hygiene (hand washing, coughing behaviours) is uniformly distinct from compliance related to social distancing behaviours. Regression analyses predicting Social Distancing and Hygiene lead to differences in explained variance and type of predictors. Our study shows that treating public health compliance as a sole construct obfuscates the dimensionality of compliance behaviours, which risks poorer prediction of individuals’ compliance behaviours and problems in generating valid public health recommendations. Affecting these distinct behaviours may require different types of interventions.

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University students and staff able to maintain low daily contact numbers during various COVID-19 guideline periods

Epidemiology and Infection ◽

10.1017/s0950268821001618 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 149 ◽

Author(s):

Adam Trickey ◽

Emily Nixon ◽

Hannah Christensen ◽

Adam Finn ◽

Amy Thomas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

University Students ◽

University Staff ◽

Social Contacts ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Contact Patterns ◽

National Guidance ◽

The Uk ◽

University Of Bristol ◽

The University ◽

Rule Of Six

Abstract UK universities re-opened in September 2020, amidst the coronavirus epidemic. During the first term, various national social distancing measures were introduced, including banning groups of >6 people and the second lockdown in November; however, outbreaks among university students occurred. We aimed to measure the University of Bristol staff and student contact patterns via an online, longitudinal survey capturing self-reported contacts on the previous day. We investigated the change in contacts associated with COVID-19 guidance periods: post-first lockdown (23/06/2020–03/07/2020), relaxed guidance period (04/07/2020–13/09/2020), ‘rule-of-six’ period (14/09/2020–04/11/2020) and the second lockdown (05/11/2020–25/11/2020). In total, 722 staff (4199 responses) and 738 students (1906 responses) were included in the study. For staff, daily contacts were higher in the relaxed guidance and ‘rule-of-six’ periods than the post-first lockdown and second lockdown. Mean student contacts dropped between the ‘rule-of-six’ and second lockdown periods. For both staff and students, the proportion meeting with groups larger than six dropped between the ‘rule-of-six’ period and the second lockdown period, although was higher for students than for staff. Our results suggest university staff and students responded to national guidance by altering their social contacts. Most contacts during the second lockdown were household contacts. The response in staff and students was similar, suggesting that students can adhere to social distancing guidance while at university. The number of contacts recorded for both staff and students were much lower than those recorded by previous surveys in the UK conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic.

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