ABSTRACT
Engaging in leisure activities promotes mental health. The effect is likely associated with resilience as the broaden-and-build theory suggests positive emotions elicited from leisure increase mental resources for stress coping. The present research examined whether participating in different leisure activities at a given time increases the level of resilience, which in turn reduces psychological problems. It also investigated the changes in people's leisure activities due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the impact of these changes on their mental health. Japanese participants (N = 300) responded to two online surveys conducted before (January 2020) and after the outbreak (February 2021). They selected the leisure activities they had engaged in from 100 choices and reported their levels of resilience and depressive symptoms. An analysis of covariates revealed that the total number of selected activities significantly reduced in the second survey, but the levels of resilience and depressive symptoms remained constant. Regression analysis showed that the reduction in leisure activities did not predict depressive symptoms. However, structural equation modeling established that the relationship between leisure and depression was mediated by resilience, supporting the initial hypothesis. Importantly, this relationship slightly differed by age group, likely because popular activities and their psychological impacts vary depending on age.
ABSTRACT
This study investigated how daily behaviors of Japanese people changed during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and whether the change was mediated by demographics. It also examined whether the magnitude of behavior change in a demographic group is related to their attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. 301 Japanese responded to an online survey in February 2021, in which they first wrote some activities they frequently performed before the virus outbreak and then wrote about activities in their current life. The number of gathered answers were 1858 for 'before' and 1668 for 'after', and they were grouped into 19 behavior categories. Overall, behaviors such as traveling, eating out, and shopping were much less frequently described in the 'after' condition; while housework, food delivery, and pandemic prevention were mentioned more. However, the change pattern was significantly influenced by demographics of age, gender, having children or not, and household income. Especially women, younger generations, and people without children showed the greatest extent of behavior change compared with the other demographic cohorts. These groups were reported to be vaccine-hesitant in the literature. This study suggests that individuals with hesitant attitudes towards vaccines are more willing to change their behaviors to control viral transmission.