Resiliency has been shown to attenuate and even protect against cognitive impairment from mental and physical stressors. Recently, it has been demonstrated that individuals who score high in psychological resilience tend to have less impairment following a mTBI.The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be an uncertain time for many. Periods of isolation, unemployment, and of course, sickness, meant more time at home. The partial or complete breakdown of an individual’s day-to-day routine paired with the stress of the pandemic has reinforced the need for psychological resilience. This analysis investigates the relationship between self-reported routine adherence and an individual’s corresponding psychological resilience. We hypothesize that individuals who maintained a structured daily routine during the pandemic will have higher levels of psychological resilience, enabling them to better handle periods of extreme stress.

8963 English-speaking adults (18-92 years old; 59.5% female) from across the U.S. completed an online, monthly cross-sectional (∼1000 participants per month), battery of questions that included the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and a self-reported sleep and routine rating(s) between June 2020 and April 2021. We measured the level of an individual’s routine by adding the self-reported survey scores of waking at the same time and maintaining a routine throughout the day. Both questions were scored 0-4 (Likert-style) for a score range of 0 to 8; higher scores indicated a higher adherence to a daily structure. Weeknight sleep (Sun-Thurs) was a self-reported average of the hours of sleep obtained over the past 4 weeks. A two-way ANCOVA was used to analyze the effects that routine had on subsequent psychological resilience scores while controlling for average sleep duration.

A significant main effect routine on psychological resilience was found F(8,8953) =227, p=<.00001 after controlling for average reported weeknight sleep. An independent t-test was performed to determine the differences between those who fall above and below the average score (M= 5.1) for routine adherence. Individuals who were above average in adherence (M=71.1, SD=15.5) had significantly higher CD-RISC scores than individuals who did not (M=59.2, SD=16.7); t(9166)=35.1, p <0.001.

Individuals who maintained a more structured day throughout the pandemic were more likely to score higher on psychological resilience assessments than those who did not. Chronic stress is known to contribute to the development and exacerbation of many common psychiatric conditions like anxiety and depression. These results suggest that having a regular routine may have positive effects on an individual’s ability to bounce back from stressful cognitive and psychological events. This relationship should be further investigated in clinical populations as a potential intervention or adjunctive treatment for common neuropsychiatric conditions.