Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific and public health communities have become increasingly focused on understanding young adults’ physical distancing behaviors and the role that young adults have on viral potentiation and community spread. In the present study, we surveyed a group of 560 young adults (ages 22-28) from the greater Seattle area in April 2020, during statewide “shelter-in-place” recommendations, to examine young adults’ self-reported adherence to physical distancing guidelines. Self-report measures were used to identify strong adherers and poor adherers, which we then compared in terms of engagement in specific physical distancing behaviors and alcohol use behaviors pertaining to physical distancing adherence. We found that most young adults are classified as strong adherers, and that poor adherers reported more frequent violations of physical distancing guidelines including having friends over to their residence or going over to other residences. Poor adherers were also significantly more likely to engage in high-risk alcohol use behavior, such as heavy episodic drinking, compared to those young adults who were classified as strong adherers. Our results provide initial evidence that young adults who engage in high-risk drinking may be at greater risk for non-adherence to government recommended physical distancing guidelines. This deeper understanding of young adult behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic can better inform public health outreach to increase physical distancing adherence currently, as well as in preparation for future contagious health crises that may require societal-level adherence to behavioral guidelines.

在整个 COVID-19 大流行期间，科学界和公共卫生界越来越关注了解年轻人的身体疏远行为以及年轻人对病毒增强和社区传播的作用。在本研究中，我们于 2020 年 4 月在全州范围内的“就地避难”建议期间对来自大西雅图地区的 560 名年轻人（年龄 22-28 岁）进行了调查，以检查年轻人自我报告的身体防护遵守情况。疏远准则。自我报告措施用于识别强遵守者和差遵守者，然后我们在特定身体距离行为的参与度和与身体距离遵守相关的饮酒行为方面进行比较。我们发现，大多数年轻人被归类为坚强的遵守者，而较差的遵守者则报告更频繁地违反身体距离准则，包括让朋友到他们的住所或去其他住所。与那些被归为强力依从者的年轻人相比，较差的依从者也明显更有可能从事高风险饮酒行为，例如偶尔大量饮酒。我们的研究结果提供了初步证据，表明从事高风险饮酒的年轻人可能面临更大的不遵守政府建议的身体距离准则的风险。对 COVID-19 大流行期间年轻人行为的更深入了解可以更好地为公共卫生外展提供信息，以提高目前保持身体距离的遵守情况，并为未来可能需要社会层面遵守行为准则的传染性健康危机做好准备。