Citizen Behaviour During COVID-19: Determinants of Preventive and Maladaptive Responses in Kazakhstan

Abstract

This study intends to understand the predictors of preventive and maladaptive practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. The association between risk perception, behaviour, knowledge, trusted sources of information, attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic, response initiative, and other variables from June to September 2020, and people’s behaviour to inform COVID-19 outbreak responses was assessed. Four samples, composed of about 1,000 respondents aged 18 years and above, were interviewed online or via telephone in four rounds every two weeks from June to September 2020. Descriptive and inferential analyses of the data were conducted using Stata 18. Multivariate regression analyses, including logistic and linear regression models, were used to identify predictors of preventive and maladaptive behaviours. The study findings revealed distinct factors associated with both preventive and maladaptive measures. These findings are significant as they provide a deeper understanding of the predictors of preventive and maladaptive practices. The existence of different predictors in favour of maladaptive behaviour calls for policy intervention to increase the uptake of preventive behaviour rather than maladaptive behaviour. Therefore, consideration of all people, regardless of their place of residence, level of education, and health status, is needed through increased exposure to the right information and undertaking measures that will increase trust in the disseminated information. Policy interventions should focus on increasing exposure to accurate information to encourage preventive behaviours. Keywords: COVID-19, Kazakhstan, maladaptive behaviour, preventive behaviour, attitude.