Association between Cooperative Attitude and High-Risk Behaviors on the Spread of COVID-19 Infection among Medical Students in Japan

Chie Hirama, Zechen Zeng, Nobutoshi Nawa and Takeo Fujiwara ()
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Chie Hirama: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan
Zechen Zeng: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan
Nobutoshi Nawa: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan
Takeo Fujiwara: Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-10

Abstract: The impact of high-risk behaviors on the spread of COVID-19 infection among young people is an important problem to address. This study analyzed the association between cooperativeness and high-risk behaviors. We conducted a cross-sectional study among fourth-year medical students at Tokyo Medical and Dental University. The students were asked about cooperative attitude in a hypothetical situation of performing a task together with an unfamiliar classmate, who did not cooperate to complete the task previously. The response items were as follows: “cooperate”, “don’t want to cooperate and do it alone (non-cooperative)”, and “don’t want to cooperate and let the partner do it alone (punishment)”. Eating out and vaccine hesitancy were also treated as high-risk behaviors. Poisson regression was used to investigate the association between cooperative attitude and each high-risk behavior, adjusted for demographics. Of the 98 students, 23 (23.5%), 44 (44.9%), and 31 (31.6%) students chose “noncooperative”, “cooperative”, and “punishment”, respectively. Cooperative-type students exhibited 2.77-fold (PR: 2.77, 95% CI: 1.03–7.46), and punishment-type students exhibited 3.16-fold greater risk of eating or drinking out (PR: 3.16, 95% CI: 1.14–8.75) compared with those of the noncooperative type. Among medical students, the “cooperative” type and “punishment” type comprised the high-risk group for eating out during the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; risk behaviors; university student; cooperative attitude; risk avoidance; trust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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