Pleasant Activities among Young Adults and Their Lack during the COVID-19 Pandemic

1.1 The COVID-19 pandemic and the change of standard

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic re-organized daily schedule of being and brought new requirements on adapting to new condition’s existence in a day-by-day life. COVID-19 pandemics brought changes in human lives and the impact of heavy pressure on mental perceptions of these changed conditions. Changes, to what they used to live, can bring the feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, and fear. Any change brings stress. The rapid changes without any preparation for the new circumstances influenced lifestyle, behavior at work (home office), and in common life in the family (home office and child’s distance education at home).

People isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns is nothing exceptional in many European countries during the period of March 2020 and April 2021. But is exceptional for humans, who are the race of social life. During the pandemic COVID-19 isolation brings the symptom of being bored even if a man engages in the things that usually used to like. COVID-19 and mental health is a link that has recently taken up many pages in scientific journals. Loss of standard life, loss of common activities, which were used to do during the day, during the month causes some problems to someone that can result in worsening mental health or mood disorders. The fear and doubt of the unknown and at the same time very dangerous does not help with mental health. When people can live with some fun and have a pleasant time it overshadows the worries, stress, fear, anxiety, inconclusiveness, and hopelessness that lie heavy on the mind. A human can feel well and satisfied when he/she makes activities, which are pleasurable for him/her. Not all activities are pleasant for all. There are activities pleasant for somebody, which are not so pleasant for any other person. A person lives his/her life with the activities that form a mosaic of wanted and also unwanted situations. If they are pleasant for a person, his/her life is peaceful and mostly satisfying. But there are unwanted situations that evoke uncomfortable feelings in a person. The COVID-19 pandemic is an unwanted situation with the unexpected prediction and till this time with 3,477,917 deaths worldwide (24th of May 2021). It brings fear, dissatisfaction with the emerging changes in everyday life, which is reflected in people’s quality of life. The life at this time of COVID-19 is burdensome. Persistently and severely decreased interest or pleasure in most daily activities is defined as anhedonia [1, 2]. Authors widen the definition to knowledge that it can be decrement of pleasurable activities, or even loss of interest to action in order to get pleasure. The powerful motivational process of doing something or being captivated by an object and can feel enjoyable feelings, which are worth to stay with this activity and the object, and may have the value of further involvement in or further exploration is named interest [3]. Interest increases attention and engagement. In Levinas philosophy [4] he “enjoy thing for themselves and not for any purpose, practical or intellectual. This enjoyment is the very basis of the happiness.” And Levinas continued thinking about enjoyment by [5]: “In enjoyment I am absolutely for myself. Egoist without reference to the other, I am alone without solitude”. And by [6] some idea of Levinas that before any reflection, any return upon oneself enjoyment is an enjoying of enjoyment, and “enjoyment is an ineluctable moment of sensitivity”.

The research of [7] examined the relationship between engaging in pleasant activities and mood as a function of age, sex, and diagnostic group. Results indicate that a substantial and significant relationship existed between mood level and the number of pleasant activities engaged in for all groups. Online survey of [8] and its results found out that burden by COVID-19 was significantly positively associated with depression symptoms, while it was significantly negatively linked to physical activity. Similar result patterns were found in all country-specific samples Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the present cross-national findings emphasize the protective effect of physical activity specifically in times of Covid-19. Gender differences were found in a Canadian study of [9]. Women were significantly less physically active than men. Women who engaged in more physical activity had improved mental health scores. Less physical activity due to COVID-19 reported significantly lower mental health scores, lower social and emotional and psychological well-being, and significantly higher generalized anxiety. Physical disability was in the study of [10] associated with greater depressive symptoms and lower positive affect and meaning in life through reduced frequency of pleasant activities. The extent of performing the meaningful activities during COVID-19 lockdown in Belgium was positively related to adults’ mental health [11].

Also, some kind of indication in mental health like depressive symptoms [12] in residents of the United States and Japan, depression, functionality, and socio-demographic variables [13] studied in Brazil, possible increase in mental health illnesses in the United States as a consequence of the pandemic [14], loss of meaningful activities was strongly related to mental health [11]. The exercise as a coping strategy in the challenges of distancing during pandemic and social isolation did not bring the differences between those individuals who exercised and those who did not [4].

Pleasant activities as a part of human beings in a leisure time are the opposite activities to work, to duties. Opposite to work is a game. But [15] said that the game can be work for someone and fun for others. The game is not just a matter of leisure time, or even pastime, because from childhood, through youth to old age, the game permeates human life as a basic existential phenomenon [16]. The play is considered a human activity, but also a certain manifestation of behavior, which brings satisfaction and pleasure directly and facilitates the condition for survival [17].

When the unusual time occurs, some psychic difficulties occur too. Difficulties with sleep are either sleeping far less than is used to and in this manner being exhausted or far more, but being not enough rested, what can lead also to persistent exhaustion. Being exhausted causes negative mood, loss of pleasure and sadness. Loss of pleasure in the living own life can cause loss of sleep and can cause negative mood and loss of interest of doing any activities. The guidelines for sleep for adolescent and young people should be between eight and ten hours. Sleep is essential for recovery. Sleep is important for both, men and women, athletes, nonathletes, young and adults. The study of [18] explored the positive association of frequency of engagement in pleasant events and global sleep quality.

2.1 Study design and data collection

The objective of this study was to widen the knowledge about gender differences in the popularity of pleasant activities, their changes in frequency during COVID-19 compared to standard life before COVID-19, and the feelings of lack of these activities. The additional objective was to find out the general health and self-esteem of the persons from the sample.

We found out in the anamnestic data the gender, age, body height, body weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference, hip circumference, Waist to Hip ratio (WHR), sporting activity – regularly organized, regularly recreational non-organized, non-regularly recreational, non-active in sporting activity, feelings of health, change the body weight during COVID-19 – no change or change (gain the weight in kg, lose the weight in kg).

In our study, we were interested about the enjoyability, popularity of selected pleasant activities, their frequency of doing before COVID-19, frequency of doing during COVID-19 and feelings of lack of these activities in young mostly sporting adults.

3.1 Popularity and enjoyability of the activities

The engagement in the pleasant activities can derive enjoyment from this involving. Life is better when the mood is in a positive manner and then the feelings are better. We divided 195 activities in several subscales: social activities (SA; n = 25), sporting activities (SpA; n = 36), activities joined with sporting activities (SpA joined; n = 5), interests activities (IA; n = 21), passive and relaxation activities (PRA; n = 34),), cultural activities (CA; n = 16), educational and work professional activities (EPA; n = 13), household care activities (HCA; n = 5), intimate and personal activities (IPA; n = 10), miscellaneous other activities (MA; n = 12), activities joined with relocation on foot or by means of transport (MFMT; n = 6), activities joined with the provision of essential necessities – food, etc. (PLNF; n = 12). In the list there were many activities which are pleasant to someone but can be unpleasant or indifferent to others. Each can decide how to evaluate these activities and which score should be given according to the inner opinion.

Several identical rankings can be found in comparison of individual activities within the specified subscales, but this does not mean that the mean of enjoyability score is the same. Young people, according to the same place, do not like to argue with someone and criticize someone in the framework of social relationship. In the framework of educational and work professional activities they do not like writing professional and scientific texts and articles. This is very interesting because these young people are mostly students in the final year of the study at the Comenius University in Bratislava, the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, and at the time of completing the questionnaire, they were in the phase of focusing to fulfill their study obligations, including writing professional scientific texts because of their master thesis. They do not like shopping at the clothing market, travel in the public transport, and do not like online buying grocery and household items. Dieting is also not the question for these young sports people. On the opposite side within the subscales and the same activities placed from above of the list they like non-organized, spontaneous sporting activity, showering, being in a countryside or in nature, searching for private information on the Internet, visiting the cinema and rock and pop concert, eating a healthy food, and laughing.

Given all pleasant activities for men and women in the list according to reached scores the Table 2 presents the rankings the first five most popular activities and the activities in the last five positions from the list.

A comparison of the reached scores from all activity scores between men and women (Figure 1) reveals statistical significant differences for women in SA – Social activities t(98.505) = −2.266, p = .026; in PRA – Passive and relaxation activities t(108.369) = −2.218, p = .029; in IPA – Intimate and personal activities t(99.068) = −2.3776, p = .019; in MA – Miscellaneous other activities t(108.154) = −3.834, p = .000; PLNF – Provision of living necessities t(102.173) = −3.266, p = .001, in IA – Interest activities U = 1205.000, p = .047; HCA – Household care activities U = 1058.000, p = .004.

The highest score of popularity reached both in men and women the subscale SpA – joined – activities joined with sporting activity (1.45 in men, and 1.4 in women). The lowest score was devoted both in men and women too to a subscale IA – interest activities (0.46 in men, and 0.54 in women).

In nine comparison cases, women scored higher on the subscales of pleasant activities (SA – social activities, IA – interest activities, PRA – passive and relaxation activities, CA – cultural activities, HCA – household care activities, IPA – intimate and personal activities, MA – miscellaneous other activities, MFMT – Activities joined with relocation on foot or by means of transport, and PLNF – Activities joined with the provision of essential living necessities – food, etc.). Males obtained higher scores in only three subscales of pleasant activities (Spa – sporting activities, SpA – joined – activities joined with sporting activity, and EPA – Educational and work professional activities). The mean score of all pleasant activities for men is 0.87 (SD = 0.258) and for women 0.96 (SD = 0.181). The comparison of these results between men and women presents statistically significant difference t(108.914) = −2.250, p = .026, which is in favor of women.

3.2 Frequency of pleasant activities before and during COVID-19

Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. We measured the frequency of occurrence of the repeating pleasant activities in a month (0 – this did not happen in the 30 days, 1 – this happened a few times (1 to 6) in the 30 days, 2 – this happened often (7 or more times) in the 30 days. The mean score was calculated as the mean of the scores 0–2.

The highest frequency of doing activities before COVID-19 in men (Figure 2) had activities joined with sporting activity (SpA – joined), followed by the intimate and personal activities (IPA), miscellaneous other activities (MA), social activities (SA), and passive and relaxation activities (PRA). The lowest frequency of doing activities before COVID-19 in men was by the subscale of cultural activities (CA), followed by the subscale of interest activities (IA). The biggest difference between the mean score of the frequency of doing pleasant activities before COVID-19 and during COVID-19 was recorded for the following subscales: SpA – joined – activities joined with sporting activity (Δ = .89); MFMT – activities joined with relocation on foot or by means of transport (Δ = .47); SA – social activities (Δ = .43); MA – miscellaneous other activities (Δ = .40); IPA – intimate and personal activities (Δ = .38); SpA – sporting activities (Δ = .31).

A Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that the mean score of frequency of doing the activities before and during pandemic COVID-19 in men refers to the statistically significant changes in all activities joined in the subscales: SA – Social activities (Z = − 6.850, p < .001); SpA – Sporting activities (Z = − 6.867, p < .001); SpA – joined – Activities joined with sporting activities (Z = − 6.576, p < .001); PRA – Passive and relaxation activities (Z = − 6.777, p < .001); CA – Cultural activities (Z = − 6.182, p < .001); EPA – Educational and work professional activities (Z = − 1.865, p = .033); IPA - intimate and personal activities (Z = − 6.580, p < .001); MA – miscellaneous other activities (Z = − 6.637, p < .001); MFMT – Activities joined with relocation on foot or by means of transport (Z = − 6.232, p < .001); PLNF – Activities joined with the provision of essential living necessities – food (Z = − 4.216, p < .001); except the activities from the two subscales IA – Interest activities (Z = − .908, p = .193) and HCA – Household care activities (Z = − .531, p = .312).

We recorded decline in overall frequency of doing pleasant activities in men during pandemic COVID-19 in comparison to the standard monthly doing these activities before pandemic COVID-19 (Figure 3). The decline represented statistically significant difference t(16.513) = 62, p < .001.

The same data like in men we monitored in women (Figure 4).

The highest mean score in frequency of doing pleasant activities before COVID-19 reached women in subscales IPA – intimate and personal activities, followed with subscales SpA – joined – activities joined with sporting activity, PLNF - activities joined with the provision of essential living necessities – food, etc., and MFMT – activities joined with relocation on foot or by means of transport. The lowest frequency of doing activities before COVID-19 in women was by the subscale of cultural activities (CA), followed by the subscale of interest activities (IA).

We found the biggest differences between the mean score of frequency of doing before and during pandemic COVID-19 in following subscales: SpA – joined – activities joined with sporting activity (Δ = .80); MFMT – activities joined with relocation on foot or by means of transport (Δ = .62); SA – social activities (Δ = .57); and IPA – intimate and personal activities (Δ = .52).

A Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that the mean score of frequency of doing the activities before and during pandemic COVID-19 in women refers to the statistically significant changes in all activities joined in the subscales: SA – Social activities (Z = − 6.101, p < .001); SpA – Sporting activities (Z = − 3.646, p < .001); SpA – joined – Activities joined with sporting activities (Z = − 5.790, p < .001); PRA – Passive and relaxation activities (Z = − 5.790, p < .001); CA – Cultural activities (Z = − 5.717, p < .001); IPA - intimate and personal activities (Z = − 6.105, p < .001); MA – miscellaneous other activities (Z = − 5.828, p < .001); MFMT – Activities joined with relocation on foot or by means of transport (Z = − 5.850, p < .001); PLNF – Activities joined with the provision of essential living necessities – food (Z = − 4.945, p < .001); except the activities from the two subscales IA – Interest activities (Z = − 1.926, p = .054), EPA – educational and work professional activities (Z = − .806 p = .420), and HCA – Household care activities (Z = − .951, p = .342).

We recorded decline in overall frequency of doing pleasant activities in women too during pandemic COVID-19 in comparison to the standard monthly doing these activities before pandemic COVID-19 (Figure 5). The decline represented statistically significant difference t(14.856) = 48, p < .001.

3.3 Obtained pleasure

An obtained pleasure score [19], in our case (Figure 6) is created by multiplying the overall frequency score by the overall popularity, enjoyability of all 195 pleasant activities in men and separately in women. Obtained pleasure is popularity (enjoyability) times frequency and is an approximate measure of response-contingent positive reinforcement (ibid).

Statistically significant differences were found in comparison of obtained pleasure in men and in women too. Obtained pleasure before COVID–19 in comparison to obtained pleasure during COVID–19 in men and in women shows statistical significant differences in higher obtained pleasure before COVID–19 (in men: t(62) = 12.154, p < .001; and in women: t(48) = 12.853, p < .001).

3.4 Lack of pleasant activities during COVID-19

Pleasant activities are any kind of activities that someone find enjoyable. Lack of pleasant activities might be a cause of depression, bad mood, and some kind of emptiness too. Figure 7 presents the comparison of the lack of pleasant activities between men and women.

Both gender felt a lack of pleasant activities during COVID-19, and in some subscales women felt these activities statistically significantly more (SA – social activities U = 1186.000, p = .036;, IA – interest activities U = 1174.500, p = .028; and MA – miscellaneous other activities U = 915.500, p p < .001).

Tables 3–8 present several individual rankings (as a mean score) of lack of detailed pleasant activities from selected subscales SpA – joined – Activities joined with Sport, SA – Social activities, SpA – Sporting activities, IA - Interest activities, IPA – Intimate and personal activities, MA – Miscellaneous other activities.

For the research group, the most missing activities during COVID-19 were those activities, which are joined with sport (Table 3), because our respondents were students in the final (fifth) year of a study at the Faculty of Physical education and Sport, of which up to 52% were still organized in some kind of sports organization. In addition to regular training, their work also included regular competitions, races or matches.

Most of them were at the time of questionnaire fulfilling, engaged as the trainers and coaches for someone. And they lacked all this, what is a good sign for their future employment, that they felt most the lack of those activities that will be the content of their work and job after completing the school study.

Social activities were in the second place of the most missing activities that these young sporting people felt as a lack of these activities.

In the research sample of men and women, the first place of the most missing activity from the social activities’ subscales during COVID-19 appeared the same activity, which we named “Inviting friends´ visits” (Table 4).

The next two places occupied activities that are connected with friends – going to friends´ visits, and drinking coffee, tea with friends. The fourth place is dedicated to the lack of “going out”, men going to restaurants and women going to cafes. In fifth place, men lacked dining with friends and women lacked family visits.

The lack of sporting activities was represented by activities related to outdoor sports (outdoor exercising, swimming in the pool, downhill skiing), to exercising in a fitness center or a sports game, which requires the presence of other players (football in men and volleyball in women) (Table 5).

Interest activities and their lack are presented in Table 6. The most missing activity was for both gender nature camping.

The most missing activity from the subscale intimate and personal activities (Table 7) was a visit to a hairdresser, barber. Young people felt the lack of the activities like kissing, making love and flirting (in men) too.

From the subscale of miscellaneous other activities, were the most missing activities for young people the holidays abroad, but also in the homeland.

The Table 9 presents overall the first 10 rankings of the activities that the persons did not feel as a lack of pleasant activities during COVID–19 because they did it daily (presented in percentage from the related sample).

Table 10 presents the first five places and the last five places in the overall rankings (as a mean score) of the lack of pleasant activities during COVID–19.

The most missing activity from all 195 activities was the activity – Inviting friends´ visits – for both, men and women.