Adolescent Social Outcomes Declined During COVID-19: Evidence From Bangladesh, Jordan, And Ethiopia.

Although adolescents have been less susceptible to COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality than older people, the social containment policies put in place to curb the disease constrained their ability to thrive. This study explored changes in adolescent outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among vulnerable adolescents, focusing on education, economic participation, early marriage, self-reported health, and food security. We investigated the role of governmental and nongovernmental cash and food aid in mitigating negative effects. Using panel data collected both before (2017-20) and at two points during (2020-21) the pandemic on more than 7,000 adolescents from Bangladesh, Jordan, and Ethiopia, we found evidence of worsening outcomes across all measures except self-reported health. Declines were generally worse for more vulnerable adolescents. There is little evidence that aid mitigated negative impacts for adolescents in general or for vulnerable adolescents in particular. This research highlights the need for greater focus on developing social protection that is responsive to the multifaceted needs of adolescents.

Explaining citizens' resistance to use digital contact tracing apps: A mixed-methods study.

Governments worldwide are using digital contact tracing (DCT) apps as a critical element in their COVID-19 pandemic lockdown exit strategy. Despite substantial investment in research and development, the public's acceptance of DCT apps has been phenomenally low, signaling resistance among potential users. Little is known about why people would resist using the DCT app, a useful innovation that can potentially save millions of human lives. This study explores the determinants and consequences of citizens' resistance to use DCT apps using a sequential two-stage mixed-methods approach. The preliminary qualitative study analyzed interviews of 24 Indian smartphone users who chose not to use or discontinued the DCT app after an initial trial. In the quantitative stage, an integrated model based on innovation resistance theory and distrust theory was tested using the survey data collected from 194 non-adopters of the DCT app from India. The findings revealed that the factors, distrust, value barrier, information privacy concerns, and usage barrier predicted the resistance to the DCT app, and resistance, in turn, predicted intention to use. Additionally, distrust was found to be a key mediator between innovation barriers and resistance. The insights from this study could help the developers and policymakers formulate strategies for implementing DCT interventions during future disease outbreaks.