Abstract
BackgroundOn March 23, 2020, the government of the United Kingdom told the British people to stay home, an unprecedented request designed to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus and stop the National Health Service from being overwhelmed.MethodsThis study undertook a cross-sectional design to survey a convenience sample of 681 residents of North London on their social distancing (SD) behaviours, demographics, housing situation, politics, psychology and social support using an online questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to measure the associations between these explanatory factors and non-adherence to all SD rules and intentional non-adherence to SD rules.ResultsThe vast majority (92.8%) of participants did not adhere to all SD rules and nearly half (48.6%) engaged in intentional non-adherence of rules. The odds of not adhering to all SD rules increased if a participant was not identified as highly vulnerable to COVID-19 [OR = 4.5], had lower control over others’ distancing [OR = .724], had lower control over responsibilities for which coming into contact with others was unavoidable [OR = .642], and if SD behaviours were reported after lockdown was first relaxed [OR = .261]. The odds of intentionally not adhering to SD rules increased if a participant had a lower intention to socially distance [OR = .468], had lower control over others’ distancing [OR = .829], had a doctoral degree compared to a master’s degree [OR = .332], a professional qualification [OR = .307], a bachelor’s degree [OR = .361] or work-related qualification [OR = .174], voted for the UK Government compared to not voting for the Government [OR = .461], perceived higher normative pressure from neighbours [OR = 1.121] and had greater support from friends [OR = 1.465].ConclusionsNon-adherence to all SD rules had a stronger association with vulnerability to COVID-19 and control over SD, whereas intentional non-adherence had a stronger association with intention and anti-social psychological factors. It is recommended that people living in high-risk environments, such as those living in houses of multiple occupancy, should be specially supported when asked to stay at home, and public health messaging should emphasise shared responsibility and public consciousness.
Highlights
On March 23, 2020, the government of the United Kingdom told the British people to stay home, an unprecedented request designed to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus and stop the National Health Service from being overwhelmed
This over-representation reflects the well-established trend that women are more likely to participate in surveys than men [49,50,51,52], which has been explained in terms of gender differences, such as greater empathy and emotional closeness in females, which are associated with greater survey participation [52, 53]
The odds of not adhering to all social distancing (SD) rules increased if a participant was not identified as highly vulnerable to COVID-19, had lower control over others’ distancing, had lower control over responsibilities for which coming into contact with others was unavoidable and if SD behaviours were reported after lockdown was first relaxed
Summary
On March 23, 2020, the government of the United Kingdom told the British people to stay home, an unprecedented request designed to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus and stop the National Health Service from being overwhelmed. The UK guidelines required the public to stay at home and only leave to exercise once a day, to travel to and from work when work from home was not possible, to shop for essential items, and to fulfil any medical or care needs. When leaving their home for permitted reasons, people were asked to minimise the time spent outdoors and to keep a minimum distance of two metres away from others outside their household. The Police were given powers to enforce this policy dispersing gatherings in parks, ensuring SD in crowed shops or break up a house party, including powers to issue people with fines for flouting the rules [4]
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