Divergent Attitudes Regarding the Benefits of Face Masks in Aviation Colleges and Universities
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Abstract
Opinions and practices regarding face masks to attenuate COVID-19’s spread remains polarized across the United States. We examined whether these attitudes extend to the aviation collegiate community. A 14-question survey was sent to 90 aviation colleges and universities throughout the country. Responses were solicited from students, faculty, and staff. Of the 598 respondents, 77% were students, 13% were faculty, and 10% were staff. Pilots comprised 66% of the respondents. A Principal Component Analysis reduced the questions to two scales: Benefits and Inconvenience. Females, non-pilots, and older respondents reported greater benefits to wearing a face mask and fewer inconveniences. A multiple regression showed aviation colleges and universities located in states which had face mask mandates, higher likelihood of community compliance, lower rates of COVID-19 in their state, and reports of less inconvenience predicted attitudes of greater benefits of wearing a face mask. Additional comments were provided by 28% of the respondents, showing strongly polarized attitudes about the benefits of face masks. Respondents who had negative attitudes about the benefits of wearing face masks, nevertheless reported compliance on college campus. As leaders in education, collegiate aviation has a responsibility to educate their students, faculty, and staff of the importance of public health measures, dispelling misinformation, and modelling behavior to increase compliance with wearing face masks.
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References
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