Interpersonal Playfulness as a Protective Factor Against Loneliness and Boredom in Single People Living Alone during the Covid-19 Lockdown

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6441337
AutoresErin Mccoy (0000-0001-8168-8123, Carleton University), Atara Lonn (Carleton University), Cheryl Harasymchuk (0000-0002-9872-0035, Carleton University)
Año2023
Volumen47
Número6
Páginas1248-1265
Fecha de publicación2023-04-20
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLeisure Sciences (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0149-0400 • E-ISSN: 1521-0588
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01490400.2023.2201584
OpenAlexW4366524520
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas52

The COVID-19 pandemic added challenges to most people’s lives, while lockdown measures curtailed many coping mechanisms. Playfulness, a dispositional tendency toward engaging in amusing and entertaining behavior, was examined as a protective factor. We gathered open-ended responses and quantitative data over six weeks (once weekly) from a sample of single people living alone to evaluate the occurrence of interpersonal playful behaviors and the association between interpersonal playfulness with loneliness and boredom at both the trait and state levels. We found that people engaged in playful behaviors despite lockdown mandates, especially more playful people. Further, people who tend to be more dispositionally playful than others, and people feeling more playful than their usual, experienced less loneliness and boredom. Exploratory results suggest positive affect plays a mediating role in the associations between playfulness with loneliness and boredom. This study supports playfulness as an adaptive trait during challenging circumstances.Keywords: boredomCOVID-19lonelinessplayfulnesssingle people AcknowledgmentsThe authors wish to express gratitude to the participants for partaking in this study. In addition, we would like to thank Leilah Debelle, Kat Timms, and Harley Purcell, the research assistants who helped with coding the open-ended responses.Disclosure statementThe authors report there are no competing interests to declare.Data availability statementData is available upon request. Please email Cheryl Harasymchuk at [email protected] reviewThe research protocol was reviewed by Carleton University’s Research Ethics Board-B under the protocol number 105036.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported as part of a larger project funded by Carleton University’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Research grant

Boredom · Feeling · Gratitude · Interpersonal communication · Loneliness · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Mind wandering and attention · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Social Psychology