Older Adults’ Preventive Behaviors During COVID-19 Outbreak: Application of Multiple Disadvantage Model

This study explored older adults’ preventive behaviors during the pandemic. A sample of 2982 community-dwelling older adults was extracted from the United States National Health and Aging Trends Study. Results showed that number of preventive behaviors was decreased with rundown neighborhood and age; but increased with Blacks, Hispanics, other ethnic minorities, income, female, number of persons in household, social cohesion, social network, family/peer support, severity of COVID-19 symptoms, and anxiety during COVID-19 outbreak. The study results imply that joint effort of government and ethnic minority advocacy groups in public health education should focus on preventive measures as well as racial disparities in health, and that rejuvenating rundown neighborhoods, promoting neighboring, providing stimulus checks and unemployment insurance, and maintaining connection with family and friends will promote preventive behaviors.