Open AccessFlow in the time of COVID-19: Findings from China
Author(s) -
Kate Sweeny,
Kyla Rankin,
Xiaorong Cheng,
Lulu Hou,
Fangfang Long,
Yujie Meng,
Lilian Azer,
Renlai Zhou,
Weiwei Zhang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0242043
Subject(s) - mindfulness , quarantine , covid-19 , china , coping (psychology) , flow (mathematics) , psychology , medicine , clinical psychology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , geography , disease , virology , pathology , mechanics , archaeology , outbreak , physics
In February 2020, the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) was raging in Wuhan, China and quickly spreading to the rest of the world. This period was fraught with uncertainty for those in the affected areas. The present investigation examined the role of two potential coping resources during this stressful period of uncertainty: flow and mindfulness. Participants in Wuhan and other major cities affected by COVID-19 ( N = 5115) completed an online survey assessing subjective experiences of flow, mindfulness, and well-being. Longer quarantine was associated with poorer well-being; flow and mindfulness were associated with better well-being on some measures. However, flow—but not mindfulness—moderated the link between quarantine length and well-being, such that people who experienced high levels flow showed little or no association between quarantine length and poorer well-being. These findings suggest that experiencing flow (typically by engaging in flow-inducing activities) may be a particularly effective way to protect against potentially deleterious effects of a period of quarantine.