Socio-psychological profile of Latvian inhabitants who did not comply with the COVID-19 epidemiological requirements

The aim of this study is to examine socio-psychological profile of Latvian inhabitants who did not comply with the COVID-19 epidemiological requirements. A randomized nationally representative sample (N = 2608, aged from 18 – 74, men 39.8%, women 60.2%) from the online survey, carried out in the frame of the National research program, project Nr. VPP-COVID-2020/1-0011, was used in this study. From the full survey only some socio-demographic questions (age, gender, education level, living place, employment status, marital status, and number of children), composite measure of Fear of COVID-19 (2 items), composite measure of COVID-19 Risk perception (4 items) and the statement: ”According to the instructions given by WHO, it is necessary for some precautions to be taken in order to prevent the spread of the virus. Do you believe that you take adequate precautions?” (response rate from 1 = “not at all” to 5 = “very much”) as a main variable, were used in this study. The results showed that less compliant with COVID-19 epidemiological requirements were males, rural inhabitants, persons aged less than 60 years old, unemployed, with lower education level, and those, who are less afraid of COVID-19 and think that its dangerousness is exaggerated. Compliance with the restrictions was not related to the marital and parental status. Based on this study, policy suggestions regarding a more targeted way of the providing information of the importance of the preventive behavior for reduction of the spread of the virus.