AccScience Publishing / IJPS / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/ijps.2751
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Adolescents’ behavioral changes and preventive practices against COVID-19 in South Africa: The influence of household characteristics

Nebechukwu Henry Ugwu1,2* Clifford Obby Odimegwu1 Yemi Adewoyin3
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1 Department of Demography and Population Studies, School of Public Health and Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
2 Institute for Development Studies, University of Nigeria, Enugu, Nigeria
3 Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Enugu, Nigeria
Submitted: 15 January 2024 | Accepted: 26 June 2024 | Published: 16 August 2024
© 2024 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

The South African government instituted a countermeasure against COVID-19 in March 2020, which had a significant impact on many individuals, particularly the youth. However, there is a limited understanding of how household characteristics influenced adolescents’ behavioral changes and their adoption of preventive measures during the pandemic. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the role of household characteristics and adolescents’ behavioral responses to COVID-19 in South Africa. Using the latest data from the South African National Income Dynamics-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (Wave 5), which includes responses from 5581 (99.9%) youths aged 15 – 24, we analyzed changes in their behaviors and the preventive measures they adopted. The study controlled for various household, demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents. We utilized cross-tabulations and an ordinal logistics regression model to determine the relationship between the covariates and the outcome of behavioral changes and preventive measures adopted. Our findings revealed that none of the respondents adopted all recommended precautionary measures for COVID-19, while 55.7% exhibited low behavioral changes, and only 2.7% exhibited higher behavioral changes throughout the pandemic. The results indicate that, at both the individual and household levels, factors such as gender, educational attainment, source of household income, and access to electricity increase the odds of behavioral changes against COVID-19 in South Africa. In addition, among household-level factors, adolescents without access to water were more likely to adopt one to three preventive measures compared to those with access to water (52.2% vs. 47.9%, p < 0.001). Therefore, to effectively prevent the spread of infection in South Africa, it is pertinent to address these household characteristics and encourage preventive measures tailored to these factors.

Keywords
Adolescent
Behavioral changes
Preventive measures
COVID-19
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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