COVID-19 disruption to routine behaviours and effects on mental health

The SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has had enormous psychological and economic impacts around the globe. Early responses to the pandemic, including different forms of quarantine and social/physical distancing led to new workforce, educational, and mobility patterns. Such changes placed many people at greater risk of poor mental health. Maintenance of behavioural routines may buffer the impacts of stress on mental health. However, relationships between disruptions to routines and mental health outcomes during the pandemic–or how these relationships are moderated by changes in workforce participation–have been understudied. This article describes the development and implementation of an index of disruptions to routine behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic in a national, probabilistic sample in the United States. We hypothesised and found that reported experience of the COVID-19-related disruptions to routines was associated with higher levels of psychological distress. We also hypothesised and found that individuals’ work status affected their ability to weather their experiences of the pandemic. In practical terms, the findings suggest that different types of support–from mental health support, to financial support, to help (re)establishing a routine–might be needed for different people, depending on the types of disruptions experienced.