Pandemic boredom: Little evidence that lockdown-related boredom affects risky public health behaviors across 116 countries

Westgate EC 1 , Buttrick NR 2 , Lin Y 1 , El Helou G 1 , Agostini M 3 , Bélanger JJ 4 Show all authors , Gützkow B 3 , Kreienkamp J 3 , Abakoumkin G 5 , Abdul Khaiyom JH 6 , Ahmedi V 7 , Akkas H 8 , Almenara CA 9 , Atta M 10 , Bagci SC 11 , Basel S 12 , Berisha Kida E 13 , Bernardo ABI 14 , Chobthamkit P 15 , Choi HS 16 , Cristea M 17 , Csaba S 18 , Damnjanovic K 19 , Danyliuk I 20 , Dash A 21 , Di Santo D 22 , Douglas KM 23 , Enea V 24 , Faller DG 25 , Fitzsimons G 26 , Gheorghiu A 27 , Gómez Á 28 , Hamaidia A 29 , Han Q 30 , Helmy M 31 , Hudiyana J 32 , Jeronimus BF 3 , Jiang DY 33 , Jovanović V 34 , Kamenov Ž 35 , Kende A 36 , Keng SL 37 , Kieu TTT 38 , Koc Y 3 , Kovyazina K , Kozytska I 20 , Krause J 3 , Kruglanski AW 39 , Kurapov A 20 , Kutlaca M 40 , Lantos NA 36 , Lemay EP 39 , Lesmana CBJ 41 , Louis WR 42 , Lueders A 43 , Maj M 44 , Malik NI 10 , Martinez A 45 , McCabe KO 46 , Mehulić J 35 , Milla MN 32 , Mohammed I 47 , Molinario E 39 , Moyano M 48 , Muhammad H 49 , Mula S 50 , Muluk H 32 , Myroniuk S 3 , Najafi R 51 , Nisa CF 4 , Nyúl B 36 , O'Keefe PA 37 , Olivas Osuna JJ 52 , Osin EN 53 , Park J 54 , Pica G 55 , Pierro A 22 , Rees J 56 , Reitsema AM 57 , Resta E 50 , Rullo M 58 , Ryan MK 59 , Samekin A 60 , Santtila P 61 , Sasin E 4 , Schumpe BM 62 , Selim HA 63 , Stanton MV 64 , Stroebe W 3 , Sutton RM 23 , Tseliou E 5 , Utsugi A 65 , van Breen JA 66 , Van Lissa CJ 67 , Van Veen K 68 , vanDellen MR 69 , Vázquez A 28 , Wollast R 43 , Et Al

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Psychology, University of Florida
  • 2 Department of Psychology, University of Virginia
  • 3 Department of Psychology, University of Groningen
  • 4 Department of Psychology, New York University, Abu Dhabi
  • 5 Laboratory of Psychology, Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Thessaly
  • 6 Department of Psychology, International Islamic University Malaysia
  • 7 Department of Pedagogy, Pristine University
  • 8 Department of Organizational Behavior, Ankara Science University
  • 9 Faculty of Health Science, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
  • 10 Department of Psychology, University of Sargodha
  • 11 Department of Psychology, Sabanci University
  • 12 Department of Social Sciences, New York University, Abu Dhabi
  • 13 Faculty of Education, Pristine University
  • 14 Department of Psychology, De La Salle University
  • 15 Department of Psychology, Thammasat University
  • 16 Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University
  • 17 Department of Psychology, Heriot Watt University
  • 18 Doctoral School of Psychology, ELTE, Eotvos Lorand University
  • 19 Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade
  • 20 Department of Psychology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
  • 21 Institute of Management and Organization, Leuphana University of Luneburg
  • 22 Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, University "La Sapienza"
  • 23 School of Psychology, University of Kent
  • 24 Department of Psychology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
  • 25 Center for Global Sea Level Change, New York University, Abu Dhabi
  • 26 Department of Marketing and Psychology, Duke University
  • 27 Center for European Studies, Faculty of Law, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
  • 28 Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia
  • 29 Psychology/Research Unit Human Resources Development, Setif 2 University
  • 30 School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol
  • 31 Department of Psychology, Menoufia University
  • 32 Department of Psychology, Universitas Indonesia
  • 33 Department of Psychology, National Chung-Cheng University
  • 34 Department of Psychology, University of Novi Sad
  • 35 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
  • 36 Department of Social Psychology, ELTE, Eotvos Lorand University
  • 37 Division of Social Science, Yale-NUS College
  • 38 Department of Psychology, HCMC University of Education
  • 39 Department of Psychology, University of Maryland
  • 40 Department of Psychology, Durham University
  • 41 Department of Psychiatry, Udayana University
  • 42 School of Psychology, University of Queensland
  • 43 Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Universite Clermont-Auvergne
  • 44 Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University
  • 45 Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield
  • 46 Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University
  • 47 Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto
  • 48 Department of Psychology, University of Cordoba
  • 49 Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar
  • 50 Dipartimento dei Processi di Sviluppo e Socializzazione, University "La Sapienza"
  • 51 Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch
  • 52 Department of Political Science and Administration, National Distance Education University (UNED)
  • 53 Department of Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics
  • 54 Graduate School of Management, NUCB Business School
  • 55 School of Law, University of Camerino
  • 56 Research Institute Social Cohesion, University of Bielefeld
  • 57 Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Groningen
  • 58 Department of Educational, Humanities and Intercultural Communication, University of Siena
  • 59 Department of Psychology, University of Exeter
  • 60 School of Liberal Arts, M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University
  • 61 Department of Psychology, New York University Shanghai
  • 62 Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam
  • 63 Department of Psychology, King Saud University
  • 64 California State University, East Bay
  • 65 Graduate School of Humanities, Nagoya University
  • 66 Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University
  • 67 Department of Methodology & Statistics, Utrecht University
  • 68 University of Groningen
  • 69 Department of Psychology, University of Georgia
Emotion, 2023 Dec;23(8):2370-2384.
PMID: 36913277 DOI: 10.1037/emo0001118

Abstract

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. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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