TY - JOUR

T1 - Children and Adolescents' Behavioral Patterns in Response to Escalating COVID-19 Restriction Reveal Sex and Age Differences

AU - Paulsen, Mira

AU - Zychlinsky Scharff, Anna

AU - de Cassan, Kristof

AU - Sugianto, Rizky Indrameikha

AU - Blume, Cornelia

AU - Blume, Holger

AU - Christmann, Martin

AU - Hauß, Corinna

AU - Illig, Thomas

AU - Jonczyk, Rebecca

AU - Klopp, Norman

AU - Kopfnagel, Verena

AU - Lichtinghagen, Ralf

AU - Lucas, Henning

AU - Luhr, Anke

AU - Mutschler, Frauke

AU - Pietschmann, Thomas

AU - Pott, Philipp-Cornelius

AU - Prokein, Jana

AU - Schaefer, Paula

AU - Stahl, Frank

AU - Stanislawski, Nils

AU - von der Born, Jeannine

AU - Schmidt, Bernhard M W

AU - Heiden, Stefanie

AU - Stiesch, Meike

AU - Memaran, Nima

AU - Melk, Anette

N1 - Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Beate G?nther, Philipp Tups, Katharina Kalinowski, Rita Wonik-Schmidt, Brigitte Naber, and Frank Weinberg for their organizational support at the school. The authors would like to thank all study participants, including the students, teachers, and staff at the Schillerschule and IGS Roderbruch for their support of the TRAC-19 Study. The authors also thank Thorsten Saenger, Maxine Swallow, and Andreas Winkel for their logistical support as well as all study personal for their contributions in collecting data and samples. The study is funded by the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, Germany, refrence number 14-76103-184. The Ministry of Science and Culture had no role in the design and conduct of the study; data collection, management, analysis, or interpretation; or writing of the report.

PY - 2022/3

Y1 - 2022/3

N2 - Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic affects students in a myriad of different ways. Our prospective, longitudinal study in a cohort of students in Hannover, Germany explores behavioral patterns during escalating COVID-19 restrictions. Methods: In total, 777 students between the age of 9 and 20 were assessed for their activity engagement, travel patterns, and self-assessed compliance with protective recommendations at six time points between June 2020 and June 2021 (3,564 observations) and were monitored for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection by nasal swab polymerase chain reaction and serum antibody titers. Results: Activity engagement decreased, but self-assessed compliance with measures such as mask wearing and social distancing was stable during escalating restrictions. Although we found no sex difference during the summer break, when incidence was lowest, females engaged in a higher variety of activities than males for all other time points. Older students engaged in more activities and self-assigned themselves lower compliance values than younger ones. Greater involvement in different activities was seen in households which traveled more frequently. Infection rate in our cohort was low (0.03% acute infections, 1.94% positive seroprevalence). Discussion: Our study supports the view that, overall, students show high compliance with COVID-19 recommendations and restrictions. The identification of subsets, such as female and older students, with higher risk behavioral patterns should be considered when implementing public information campaigns. In light of the low infection rate in our cohort, we conclude that in-person learning can occur safely if extensive protective measures are in place and the incidence in the general population remains moderate.

AB - Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic affects students in a myriad of different ways. Our prospective, longitudinal study in a cohort of students in Hannover, Germany explores behavioral patterns during escalating COVID-19 restrictions. Methods: In total, 777 students between the age of 9 and 20 were assessed for their activity engagement, travel patterns, and self-assessed compliance with protective recommendations at six time points between June 2020 and June 2021 (3,564 observations) and were monitored for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection by nasal swab polymerase chain reaction and serum antibody titers. Results: Activity engagement decreased, but self-assessed compliance with measures such as mask wearing and social distancing was stable during escalating restrictions. Although we found no sex difference during the summer break, when incidence was lowest, females engaged in a higher variety of activities than males for all other time points. Older students engaged in more activities and self-assigned themselves lower compliance values than younger ones. Greater involvement in different activities was seen in households which traveled more frequently. Infection rate in our cohort was low (0.03% acute infections, 1.94% positive seroprevalence). Discussion: Our study supports the view that, overall, students show high compliance with COVID-19 recommendations and restrictions. The identification of subsets, such as female and older students, with higher risk behavioral patterns should be considered when implementing public information campaigns. In light of the low infection rate in our cohort, we conclude that in-person learning can occur safely if extensive protective measures are in place and the incidence in the general population remains moderate.

KW - Adolescents

KW - Behavior

KW - COVID-19

KW - Infections

KW - School

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121506933&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.11.021

DO - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.11.021

M3 - Article

C2 - 34972613

VL - 70

SP - 378

EP - 386

JO - Journal of adolescent health

JF - Journal of adolescent health

SN - 1054-139X

IS - 3

ER -