Cognitive and Affective Irritation During Times of Crisis

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic can be understood as a crisis accompanied by both primary and secondary stressors, such as threats to physiological health (primary), uncertainty (primary), and changes to work environments (secondary). In a longitudinal study during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (Summer 2020 to Spring 2021), we investigated changes in subjective well-being (health, sleep, satisfaction, and cognitive and affective irritation) among a sample of 99 employees. We found that subjective well-being decreased over time: Health, sleep quality, and satisfaction decreased between Summer 2020 and Spring 2021, while affective irritation increased. Moreover, we found that the increase in affective irritation was associated with the decline in satisfaction, while increases in cognitive irritation were associated with decreases in sleep quality and satisfaction. The results highlight the unique predictive value of these distinct concepts of work-related rumination and the relevance of distinguishing between cognitive and affective irritation.