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In this paper, Chair of Sport Psychology members Julia Schüler and Wanja Wolff collaborated with Corinna Martarelli (Swiss Distance University Institute) and Maik Bieleke (University of Vienna) to empirically assess the role dispositional boredom and self-control play in statistically predicting adherence to the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines. In support of their theoretical and conceptual work, they find that boredom increases the difficulty to adhere to social distancing and this is linked to reduced compliance. In addition, high self-control is linked with better adherence and it moderates the difficulty-adherence relationship. However, as boredom and self-control are strongly linked, those who struggle with the guidelines due to boredom are most likely not equipped to deal with this struggle due to low self-control. The full abstract of the paper can be found below:

“Social distancing during the coronavirus-disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is crucial to reduce the spread of the virus. However, its effectiveness hinges on adherence by individuals who face substantial burdens from the required behavioral restrictions. Here, we investigate sources of individual variation in adhering to social distancing guidelines. In a high-powered study (N = 895), we tested direct and indirect effects of boredom and self-control on adherence. The results showed that both traits were important predictors of adherence but the underlying mechanisms differed. Specifically, individuals high in boredom perceived social distancing as more difficult, which in turn reduced their adherence (i.e., a mediated effect). In contrast, individuals high in self-control adhered more to the guidelines without perceiving them as more or less difficult; however, self-control moderated the effect of difficulty on adherence. Our results are immediately relevant to improve the efficacy of social distancing guidelines in the COVID-19 response.”

This contribution highlights how boredom and self-control jointly affect public health behavior, thereby emphasizing the need for more research that analyzes the interdependencies of boredom and self-control in the public health context.

The paper can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17155420

The bibliographic information of the paper: Wolff, W., Martarelli, C., Schüler, J., & Bieleke, M. (2020). High boredom proneness and low trait self-control impair adherence to social distancing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17, 5420.