Examining the Longitudinal Associations between Adjustment Disorder Symptoms and Boredom during COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a myriad of stressors, underscoring the relevance of adjustment disorder during these extraordinary times. Boredom—as a feeling and as a dispositional characteristic—is an equally pertinent experience during the pandemic that has been cross-sectionally linked to various mental health difficulties. The current longitudinal study expanded on this work, examining the associations between adjustment disorder symptoms and boredom (both as a feeling and as a trait) over time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Community participants completed questionnaires three times, rating their trait boredom at Time 1 and their feelings of boredom and adjustment disorder symptoms (preoccupation with a pandemic stressor and failure to adapt) over the past week at Times 1–3. Latent growth curve analyses found that an increase in feelings of boredom was significantly associated with increased preoccupation with a pandemic stressor and increased difficulties with adapting over time. Additionally, trait boredom significantly predicted changes in preoccupation and the failure to adapt, such that participants high in trait boredom increasingly struggled with these symptoms over time. Our results suggest that increased feelings of boredom and a trait disposition towards boredom can be detrimental to people’s ability to adjust over time to the stressors associated with the pandemic. Boredom, as an aversive state and as a chronic difficulty, may be important to address in treatment approaches for adjustment disorder symptoms during COVID-19.

Keywords

• adjustment disorder
• preoccupation
• failure to adapt
• feelings of boredom
• trait boredom
• longitudinal study