Xinhua Yang1, Liangliang Chen, Chenglei Wang, Mengqing Long, Chao Yan
Background: COVID-19 lockdown restrictions have caused a significant constraint on our ability to engage in many enjoyable and rewarding activities. However, less evidence is available how pleasure capacity may be affected. The current study investigated changes in anhedonia during different phases of the Chinese lockdown including the lockdown and post-lockdown as compared to pre-lockdown.
Methods: Data were collected at 7 time points from 345 Chinese university students monitored across twenty-six months from October 2018 to December 2020 measuring anticipatory and consummatory anhedonia, depressive symptom, child maltreatment, self-harm behavior and COVID-19 relative stressors. The multivariate linear mixed model was used to examine the overall change in anhedonia over time.
Results: Compared with pre-lockdown, anticipatory and consummatory anhedonia significantly decreased following the lockdown, but failed to find significant changes between during and post-lockdown. The same improvement pattern was found in depressive symptoms. Individual with emotional neglect showed a less decrease in anticipatory anhedonia whereas those with emotional abuse showed a less decrease in consummatory anhedonia. Higher COVID-19 relative stressors predicted less anticipatory and consummatory anhedonia.
Conclusions: Chinese undergraduates appear to experience better pleasure capacity during the pandemic. Such positive changes have important implications on how to cultivate the ability to engage enjoyable activities in the future crises.