# Fear of COVID-19 and hygiene behaviors: a study of secondary school students in İstanbul

## TL;DR

This study found no link between fear of COVID-19 and hygiene behaviors in secondary school students, but noted that maternal employment status influenced hygiene practices.

## Contribution

The study reveals that maternal employment status, not fear of COVID-19, significantly affects students' hygiene behaviors.

## Key findings

- No significant relationship was found between fear of COVID-19 and hygiene behaviors.
- Students with retired or employed mothers had higher hygiene scores than those with housewife mothers.
- Higher HBS scores were observed in students with retired mothers across multiple hygiene subdimensions.

## Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between fear of COVID-19, measured using the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), and the hygiene behaviors of secondary school students, assessed with the Hygiene Behavior Scale (HBS).

Included in this cross-sectional study were 206 secondary school students. The study data were analyzed using multivariate linear regression.

No relationship was found between the fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) score of the student sample and the mean total HBS and subdimension values (p > 0.05). It was noted that positive hygiene behaviors decreased as the scale score increased. Students with retired mothers scored 4.463 units higher in the personal hygiene subdimension than those whose mothers were housewives, while the students whose mothers were in blue-collar roles scored 4.868 units higher on the personal hygiene subdimension than those whose mothers were housewives (p < 0.05). The students whose mothers were retired scored 3.845 units higher on the hand-washing subdimension than those whose mothers were housewives (p < 0.05), while those with retired mothers scored 4.052 units higher on the food hygiene subdimension than those whose mothers were housewives (p < 0.05). Students whose mothers were retired scored 12.361 units higher on the HBS than those whose mothers were housewives, while those whose mothers were blue-collar workers scored 7.884 units higher on the HBS than those whose mothers were housewives (p < 0.05). The total mean HBS score of the sample was 48.25 ± 14.41, while the total mean FCV-19S score was 15.18 ± 7.69.

No significant relationship was noted between the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) scores and hygiene behaviors of secondary school students. Significantly higher total and subdimension HBS scores were noted in students whose mothers were retired or employed than in those whose mothers were housewives. These findings suggest that maternal employment status may play an influential role in the hygiene behaviors of students.