Preventive behavior against SARS-CoV-2 infection in adults according to whether or not they live with children. A combined analysis of the nationwide COSMO-SPAIN and ENE-COVID surveys

INTRODUCTION: The protection of children is a major driver of behavior among those in charge of their care. We evaluated whether compliance with preventive measures against SARS-CoV-2 infection among adults living with children was different from that of those not living with them, in 2020. METHODS: We used the COSMO-SPAIN (N = 867) and the nationally representative ENE-COVID (N = 29,926) surveys to estimate prevalence of compliance (95% confidence interval). Logistic model based standardization methods were applied to estimate standardized prevalence differences (SPrD) to the overall distribution of age, sex, education, history of COVID-19, and residence of other >60 yrs in the household. RESULTS: We observed that adults living with children more frequently avoided bars (SPrD(ENE−COVID): 4.2%; 95% CI: 2.3–6.1), crowded places (SPrD(COSMO): 8.0%; 95% CI: 0.6–15.1) and did not use public transportation (SPrD(ENE−COVID): 4.9%; 95% CI: 3.0–6.7). They were also more worried about work and family conciliation (SPrD(COSMO): 12.2%; 95% CI: 4.8–19.5) and about closure of education centers (SPrD(COSMO): 26.5%; 95% CI: 19.4–33.6). DISCUSSION: In general, adults living with children adopted slightly more frequently social distancing measures.