A study published in PLOS One found that 65% of Americans were partaking in social distancing during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The generational group most likely to be social distancing was Baby Boomers.
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, public health recommendations for social distancing have not been followed by all citizens, and the authors of the new study wanted to explore why.
“I research vaccine hesitancy, and initially I was interested in the correlation of beliefs about vaccines and beliefs about social distancing and wearing masks. Around the time we did the study, there was a lot of news about younger adults not taking COVID-19 seriously, and so we wanted to empirically see if there was a difference between the actions of younger adults and the actions of older adults,” said study author Abram L. Wagner, a research assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan.
Given that older individuals are at increased risk of severe symptoms from the virus, the researchers conducted a study to see how age relates to adherence to social distancing measures.
A sample of 713 adults living in the US was recruited between March 20 and March 22, 2020. Depending on year of birth, the subjects were divided into the generational categories of Gen Z (1997-2012), Millennials (1981-1996), Gen X (1965-1980), and Baby Boomers (1946-1964).
In an online survey, the participants were asked to indicate their perceived risk of contracting the virus in the next 30 days, on a scale from 0% to 100%. Respondents were also asked whether or not they had started physically distancing themselves from others (by six feet) since the onset of the pandemic, and whether their behaviors had changed regarding “going into work/school, having meetings with colleagues/classmates, meeting with friends, going to a club/bar, going to a restaurant, or going outside with a child.”
An analysis showed that perceived risk of infection from COVID-19 was lowest in the Baby Boomer cohort with an average perceived risk score of 30%, followed by the Gen X group at 34%. Millennials perceived a 41% risk of contracting the virus, and Gen Z reported a 40% perceived risk.
Interestingly, while the Baby Boomers perceived the lowest risk of infection out of the generational cohorts, they showed the highest compliance with social distancing with 73% reporting social distancing. This number was significantly higher than among Millennials, where 62% reported distancing. There were no significant differences when it came to the other generations. In general, as age increased, so did the likelihood of social distancing.
“Overall, there was a shift in behaviors, most people were socially distancing at least a bit more compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, behaviors did vary across ages. More older adults were socially distancing than younger adults. Basically we need a better way to change behaviors, but socially distancing may be more difficult among younger adults because they are more likely to not be retired,” Wagner told PsyPost.
The authors discuss possible explanations for these generational differences. “For example,” they speculate, “it could be that, even before stay-at-home orders were issued, Baby Boomers responded to initial reports of a high case burden of older adults in long-term care facilities. On the other hand, Millennials had a higher perceived risk of infection, but did not practice as many social distancing behaviors, potentially due to other barriers such as jobs, childcare, or housing insecurity, or a lack of understanding of the term ‘social distancing’.”
As the authors point out, their study suggests that while a majority of Americans (65%) were social distancing at the onset of the pandemic, a considerable percentage (35%) were not.
Interestingly, political affiliation was not found to influence adherence to social distancing recommendations, with people of all parties trending towards social distancing — something researchers call, “a heartening indication of behavioral compliance.” Still, the sample was not nationally representative and cannot be generalized to the entire US population.
“So much is changing in regards to the COVID-19 response. We need additional polls to see what changes and what has not changed,” Wagner said.
The study, “Social distancing in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States”, was authored by Nina B. Masters, Shu-Fang Shih, Allen Bukoff, Kaitlyn B. Akel, Lindsay C. Kobayashi, Alison L. Miller, Harapan Harapan, Yihan Lu, and Abram L. Wagner.