Self-protective behaviour among young adults during public health crisisJelovčan, Luka (Avtor) Prislan Mihelič, Kaja (Avtor) Mihelič, Anže (Avtor) theory of planned behaviouryoung adultsself-protectionPurpose: The purpose of this article is to examine perceptions of factors deriving from the theory of planned behaviour among younger adults in times of public health crisis, their self-protective behaviour compared to other age groups, and test the predictive factors according to the theory of planned behaviour. Design/Methods/Approach: An online survey has been conducted to examine self-protective behaviour in times of public health crisis. The survey was distributed to Slovenian citizens (n = 280) using the social network Facebook. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample and measured variables. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine associations between identified factors. Findings: The results of the study indicate that there are no significant differences in self-reported self-protection between younger adults and others. Additionally, attitude toward self-protective measures is the most important predictor of self-protective behaviour for both age groups. Only the attitude is significantly associated with self-protective behaviour among young adults, whereas among others, all three predictors are significantly associated with self-protective behaviour, explaining nearly twice the variance. Research Limitations/Implications: This research contributes to the understanding of motivators that drive individuals to engage in self-protective behaviour in times of health crises. It provides insight into young adults' self-protective behaviour. Most of the limitations are related to the sample, which only contains respondents from one social network and one country. Originality/Value: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that explored the self-protective behaviour of young adults during COVID-19 using the theory of planned behaviour and compares the differences in self-protective behaviour predictors among different age groups.20202021-01-04 13:01:27Znanstveno delo78440sl