LGBTQ+ College Students’ Engagement in COVID-Protective and COVID-Risk Behaviors

ABSTRACT

Characteristics of emerging adulthood may make college students less likely to engage in COVID-protective behaviors, a public health concern given that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ+) students may be particularly vulnerable to complications related to COVID-19. To identify individual and contextual factors related to COVID-protective behaviors among a sample of LGBTQ+ college students in the United States, we examined differences in COVID-protective and -risk behaviors by gender identity, living arrangement, statewide stay at home orders, and political liberalism of the student?s current state. Although engagement in COVID-protective behaviors was high overall, students who identified as men, did not live with a parent, lived in a state without a stay at home order, and/or lived in a less liberal state engaged in fewer COVID-protective behaviors and more frequent COVID-risk behaviors. Findings underscore the importance of clear public health messaging around COVID-protective behaviors that targets especially vulnerable college students.