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Objectives: We examined perceived behavior change since implementation of physical distancing restrictions and identified modifiable (self-rated health, resilience, depressive symptoms, social support and subjective wellbeing) and non-modifiable (demographics) risk/protective factors. Methods: A representative US sample (N = 362) completed an online survey about potential risk/protective factors and health behaviors prior to the pandemic and after implemented/recommended restrictions. We assessed change in perceived health behaviors prior to and following introduction of COVID-19. We conducted hierarchical linear regression to explore and identify risk/protective factors related to physical activity, diet quality, and social isolation. Results: There have been substantial decreases in physical activity and increases in sedentary behavior and social isolation, but no changes in diet quality since COVID-19. We identified modifiable and non-modifiable factors associated with each health behavior. Conclusions: Negative effects indicate the need for universal intervention to promote health behaviors. Inequalities in health behaviors among vulnerable populations may be exacerbated since COVID-19, suggesting need for targeted invention. Social support may be a mechanism to promote health behaviors. We suggest scaling out effective health behavior interventions with the same intensity in which physical distancing recommendations were implemented.

Boredom is an aversive emotional state. People high in trait boredom are less able to effectively cope with and resolve boredom than people low in trait boredom. Trait boredom is characterized by proneness and susceptibility, which are associated with avoidance and approach behavioral dispositions, respectively. Baseline frontal EEG asymmetry (FEA) has been treated as a trait level neural correlate of approach and avoidance motivational styles. Online processes by which people effectively cope with and resolve state boredom may involve an approach motivation to create stimulation. Evidence indicates that FEA reflects an active approach or avoidance motivation. This study tested the prediction that proneness and susceptibility would be related to relative less and greater left frontal activity during baseline, respectively, and lower levels of trait boredom would be associated with a leftward shift frontal activity as situationally induced boredom ensued. Young adults (N = 54) completed trait boredom scales, baseline EEG, and a boring task. Results showed that people low in trait boredom exhibited a leftward shift in frontal activity over the course of the boring task. No relations between trait boredom and baseline FEA were observed. The results are consistent with the possibility that approach motivation is involved in coping with and resolving boredom. FEA has been characterized at trait and state levels. Our results provide a new view of FEA as a signature of dynamic online emotion regulatory processes. The implications from linking boredom and FEA for understanding the mechanisms of boredom resolution and meaning of FEA are discussed.

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