Normative perceptions and compliance to COVID-19 preventive health behaviors among university students: A brief report

In response to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued recommended preventive health behaviors (e.g., washing hands, using facemasks, social distancing), aimed at slowing the transmission of the virus. The present study examined university students' normative beliefs as predictors of compliance to these preventive health behaviors. Data were collected from 150 university students between the ages of 18 and 25 (M = 20.68, SD = 1.73) who completed an online survey. Results revealed that normative perceptions were predictive of one's self-compliance when other students from their university served as the referent group. Based on these findings, we conclude that normative perceptions could increase compliance to preventive health behaviors among university students.