Results
Common method bias test
To avoid test for the presence of common method bias caused by the self-report method used to collected the data, the Harman single factor test method was used to carry out exploratory factor analysis without rotation for all the questionnaire items. The results yielded 12 common factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, and the first common factor explained 31.89% of the total variance, which is less than the recognized judgment standard of 40%. Therefore, there was no obvious common method bias in this study.
The effects of epidemic severity on boredom and mood state
The national epidemic map on February 28, 2020, was referenced to divide participants based on epidemic severity. Those in areas with fewer than 500 confirmed COVID-19 patients were considered to live in a less severe area (Gansu Province, Qinghai Province, etc.), and those in areas with more than 500 confirmed patients were considered to live in a severe area (Sichuan Province, Jiangxi Province, Anhui Province, etc.).
Compared with those reported in prior research (Liu, Chen, Jiang, Xu, Liu, & Eastwood, et al, 2013; Zhu, 1995), the total scores of boredom and mood disturbance were higher among residents in this study. To analyze whether epidemic severity affects boredom and mood state, an independent samples t test was conducted with regional epidemic severity (less serious, serious) as the independent variable and boredom and its dimensions (lack of attention, time perception, low arousal, high arousal and disengagement) as the dependent variables (see table 2). The results showed no significant difference for the total boredom score or for any of dimension scores (p >0.05).