Pandemic Boredom: Little Evidence That Lockdown-Related Boredom Affects Risky Public Health Behaviors Across 116 Countries

Westgate E.C. Buttrick N.R. Lin Y. El Helou G. Agostini M. Bélanger J.J. Gützkow B. Kreienkamp J. Abakoumkin G. Khaiyom J.H.A. Ahmedi V. Akkas H. Almenara C.A. Atta M. Bagci S.C. Basel S. Kida E.B. Bernardo A.B.I. Chobthamkit P. Choi H.-S. Cristea M. Csaba S. Damnjanovic K. Danyliuk I. Dash A. Di Santo D. Douglas K.M. Enea V. Faller D.G. Fitzsimons G. Gheorghiu A. Gómez Á. Hamaidia A. Han Q. Helmy M. Hudiyana J. Jeronimus B.F. Jiang D.-Y. Jovanović V. Kamenov Ž. Kende A. Keng S.-L. Kieu T.T.T. Koc Y. Kovyazina K. Kozytska I. Krause J. Kruglanski A.W. Kurapov A. Kutlaca M. Lantos N.A. Lemay E.P., Jr Lesmana C.B.J. Louis W.R. Lueders A. Maj M. Malik N.I. Martinez A. McCabe K.O. Mehulić J. Milla M.N. Mohammed I. Molinario E. Moyano M. Muhammad H. Mula S. Muluk H. Myroniuk S. Najafi R. Nisa C.F. Nyúl B. O’Keefe P.A. Osuna J.J.O. Osin E.N. Park J. Pica G. Pierro A. Rees J. Reitsema A.M. Resta E. Rullo M. Ryan M.K. Samekin A. Santtila P. Sasin E. Schumpe B.M. Selim H.A. Stanton M.V. Stroebe W. Sutton R.M. Tseliou E. Utsugi A. van Breen J.A. Van Lissa C.J. Van Veen K. vanDellen M.R. Vázquez A. Wollast R. Yeung V.W.-L. Zand S. Žeželj I.L. Zheng B. Zick A. Zúñiga C. Leander N.P.
13 March 2023 American Psychological Association

Emotion
2023 #23 Issue 8 2370 - 2384 pp.

Some public officials have expressed concern that policies mandating collective public health behaviors (e.g., national/regional “lockdown”) may result in behavioral fatigue that ultimately renders such policies ineffective. Boredom, specifically, has been singled out as one potential risk factor for noncompliance. We examined whether there was empirical evidence to support this concern during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large cross-national sample of 63,336 community respondents from 116 countries. Although boredom was higher in countries with more COVID-19 cases and in countries that instituted more stringent lockdowns, such boredom did not predict longitudinal within-person decreases in social distancing behavior (or vice versa; n = 8,031) in early spring and summer of 2020. Overall, we found little evidence that changes in boredom predict individual public health behaviors (handwashing, staying home, self-quarantining, and avoiding crowds) over time, or that such behaviors had any reliable longitudinal effects on boredom itself. In summary, contrary to concerns, we found little evidence that boredom posed a public health risk during lockdown and quarantine.

COVID-19 , emotion , public health , self-regulation , Simpson’s paradox

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Department of Psychology, University of Florida, United States
Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, United States
Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Department of Psychology, New York University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Laboratory of Psychology, Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Thessaly, Greece
Department of Psychology, International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia
Department of Pedagogy, Pristine University, United States
Department of Organizational Behavior, Ankara Science University, Turkey
Faculty of Health Science, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, Peru
Department of Psychology, University of Sargodha, Pakistan
Department of Psychology, Sabanci University, Turkey
Department of Social Sciences, New York University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Faculty of Education, Pristine University, United States
Department of Psychology, De La Salle University, Philippines
Department of Psychology, Thammasat University, Thailand
Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
Department of Psychology, Heriot Watt University, United Kingdom
Doctoral School of Psychology, ELTE, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Department of Psychology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine
Institute of Management and Organization, Leuphana University of Luneburg, Germany
Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, University “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
School of Psychology, University of Kent, United Kingdom
Department of Psychology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Romania
Center for Global Sea Level Change, New York University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Department of Marketing and Psychology, Duke University, United States
Center for European Studies, Faculty of Law, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Romania
Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain
Psychology/Research Unit Human Resources Development, Setif 2 University, Algeria
The School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Department of Psychology, Menoufia University, Egypt
Department of Psychology, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia
Department of Psychology, National Chung-Cheng University, Taiwan
Department of Psychology, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Department of Social Psychology, ELTE, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Division of Social Science, Yale-NUS College, Singapore
Department of Psychology, HCMC University of Education, Viet Nam
Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, United States
Department of Psychology, Durham University, United Kingdom
Department of Psychiatry, Udayana University, Indonesia
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia
Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Université Clermont-Auvergne, France
Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Poland
Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, United States
Mass Communication, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Nigeria
Department of Psychology, University of Cordoba, Spain
Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, Pakistan
Dipartimento dei Processi di Sviluppo e Socializzazione, University “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Iran
Department of Management and Organisation, National University of Singapore Business School, Singapore
Department of Political Science and Administration, National Distance Education University (UNED), Spain
Department of Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russian Federation
Graduate School of Management, NUCB Business School, Japan
School of Law, University of Camerino, Italy
Research Institute Social Cohesion, University of Bielefeld, Germany
Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, University of Bielefeld, Germany
Department of Social Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany
Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Department of Educational, Humanities and Intercultural Communication, University of Siena, Italy
Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Department of Psychology of Religion and Pedagogy, International Islamic Academy of Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan
Department of Psychology, New York University Shanghai, China
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Department of Psychology, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Health Sciences, California State University, East Bay, United States
Graduate School of Humanities, Nagoya University, Japan
Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University, Netherlands
Department of Methodology & Statistics, Utrecht University, Netherlands
Sustainable Society, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, United States
Department of Psychology, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Ageing Epidemiology Research Unit, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Department of Psychology, Universidad de Chile, Chile

Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Laboratory of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Pedagogy
Department of Organizational Behavior
Faculty of Health Science
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Social Sciences
Faculty of Education
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Doctoral School of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Institute of Management and Organization
Department of Social and Developmental Psychology
School of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Center for Global Sea Level Change
Department of Marketing and Psychology
Center for European Studies
Social and Organizational Psychology
Psychology/Research Unit Human Resources Development
The School of Psychological Science
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department of Social Psychology
Division of Social Science
Department of Psychology
Nur-Sultan
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychiatry
School of Psychology
Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive
Institute of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology and Human Development
Mass Communication
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Dipartimento dei Processi di Sviluppo e Socializzazione
Department of Psychology
Department of Management and Organisation
Department of Political Science and Administration
Department of Psychology
Graduate School of Management
School of Law
Research Institute Social Cohesion
Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence
Department of Social Psychology
Department of Developmental Psychology
Department of Educational
Department of Psychology
Faculty of Economics and Business
Department of Psychology of Religion and Pedagogy
Department of Psychology
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Department of Psychology
Health Sciences
Graduate School of Humanities
Institute of Security and Global Affairs
Department of Methodology & Statistics
Sustainable Society
Department of Psychology
Department of Psychology
Ageing Epidemiology Research Unit
Department of Psychology

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