![]() ![]() These studies investigated factors associated with individual dimensions of social mixing, for example the number of times people had met up with friends or family socially, whether they came into close contact with others, or self-reported adherence to Government guidelines. ![]() A study investigating close contacts during the pandemic found that people who reported more contacts were less likely to think that COVID-19 would be a serious illness for them, were more likely to agree that they were likely to catch COVID-19, and were more concerned that they might spread COVID-19 to others 4. Research suggests that women, older people, those with chronic illnesses, people who perceived measures to be more effective, people who perceived COVID-19 to be a more severe illness, and those who thought that others were also adhering to measures were more likely to adopt physical distancing behaviours 11, 12, 13, 14. While new measures were introduced in response to the Omicron variant (November 2021 to January 2022), these did not include restrictions on social mixing, focusing instead on mandating face coverings and vaccine passports in certain indoor spaces, and working from home where possible 9, 10.Ī range of factors-socio-demographic, contextual, and psychological-may affect whether people adopt protective behaviours. ![]() After this, emphasis was placed on individuals understanding and managing their own risk 8. In England, legal restrictions on social mixing were in place between 27 March 2020 and 19 July 2021 6, 7. One way of encouraging uptake is to legally enforce behaviours, and to limit people’s opportunity to socialise (e.g. Protective behaviours are only effective at preventing transmission of infection if people adhere to them. In this study, we focus solely on patterns of social mixing. A previous paper from this series of surveys has explored factors associated with working outside of the home 5. at home, work, on public transport, and while socialising). Previous studies have investigated people’s contact behaviour in a range of different settings (e.g. Compared to before the pandemic, people’s contacts were reduced between March 2020 and March 2021, with contact patterns changing in line with UK Government recommendations 4. In some cases, social mixing was only allowed in outdoor spaces, due to evidence suggesting that transmission is lower in more ventilated areas (see Supplementary Materials 1 for a more detailed description of restrictions) 2, 3. In England, there have been a series of national restrictions limiting social contact (Table 1). This is an effective way of decreasing transmission 1. Similar content being viewed by othersīehavioural strategies to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 have focused on reducing the number of contacts made in everyday life through policies requiring people to work from home where possible, avoid hospitality and leisure venues, and remain physically distant from each other. While messages targeting psychological factors may reduce higher risk social mixing, achieving a large change in risky social mixing in a short space of time may necessitate a reimposition of restrictions. Our composite measure for risky social mixing varied in line with restrictions in place at the time of data collection, providing some validation of the measure. Engaging in highest risk social mixing was associated with being younger, less worried about COVID-19, perceiving a lower risk of COVID-19, perceiving COVID-19 to be a less severe illness, thinking the risks of COVID-19 were being exaggerated, not agreeing that one’s personal behaviour had an impact on how COVID-19 spreads, and not agreeing that information from the UK Government about COVID-19 can be trusted. Patterns of social mixing varied over time, broadly in line with changes in restrictions. We investigated socio-demographic, contextual and psychological factors associated with engaging in highest risk social mixing in England at seven timepoints. Forty-five waves of online cross-sectional surveys were used (n = 78,917 responses 14 September 2020 to 13 April 2022). We developed a composite measure for risky social mixing, investigating changes during the pandemic and factors associated with risky mixing. Social mixing contributes to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
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