What Motivates High School Students to Take Precautions against the Spread of Influenza? A Data Science Approach to Latent Modeling of Compliance with Preventative Practice

– This study focuses on a central question: What key behavioral factors influence high school students’ compliance with preventative measures against the transmission of influenza? We use multilevel logistic regression to equate logit measures for eight precautions to students’ latent compliance levels on a common scale. Using linear regression, we explore the efficacy of knowledge of influenza, affective perceptions about influenza and its prevention, prior illness, and gender in predicting compliance. Hand washing and respiratory etiquette are the easiest precautions for students, and hand sanitizer use and keeping the hands away from the face are the most difficult. Perceptions of barriers against taking precautions and sense of social responsibility had the greatest influence on compliance.