People are increasingly bored in our digital age

In an era where entertainment is effortlessly at our fingertips, one would assume that people are less bored than ever. Yet, reports of boredom are higher now than compared to the past. This rising trend is concerning because chronic boredom can undermine well-being, learning, and behaviour. Understanding why this is happening is crucial to prevent further negative impacts. In this Perspective, we explore one possible reason-digital media use makes people more bored. We propose that digital media increases boredom through dividing attention, elevating desired level of engagement, reducing sense of meaning, heightening opportunity costs, and serving as an ineffective boredom coping strategy.

How Did We Get So Bored? A Bioecological Model of the Development of Boredom

Boredom is a negative emotion that most people experience on occasion. However, boredom is also present on a trait level. People high in trait boredom experience boredom more frequently or have difficulty tolerating it. Individuals high in trait boredom are more likely to experience depression or anxiety or engage in risk behaviors. Little is known about the development of trait boredom. We propose a bioecological model of the development of trait boredom in which it originates from early individual differences in temperament and executive control. Trait boredom is shaped over time through interactions between the child and their developmental context, such as parents, teachers, and neighborhoods. Boredom can also spur creativity. Capitalizing on the creative side of boredom may help promote low levels of trait boredom and healthy coping. We provide a roadmap to study the development of trait boredom to advance our understanding of how it emerges and develops.

The kids are bored: Trait boredom in early childhood and links to self-regulation, coping strategies, and parent-child interactions

Boredom is a negative emotion that most people experience on occasion. However, some people experience boredom more or are unable to tolerate it, which is called trait boredom. Trait boredom has been well-studied in adolescence and adulthood, but little is known about trait boredom in childhood. The main goal of this study was to measure trait boredom in 4- to 6-year-olds (N = 130) and to test whether it relates to self-regulatory processes in a similar fashion that has been observed in adults and identify strategies children use to cope with boredom. We found boredom in childhood was related to self-regulatory processes in a similar fashion as it does in adults, and most children used social stimulation strategies (e.g., asking to play with a parent) or behavioral strategies (e.g., playing with toys) to cope with boredom. The findings are discussed within the context of prevention and the emotion regulation and boredom literature.

Trait Boredom as a Lack of Agency: A Theoretical Model and a New Assessment Tool

Trait boredom plays a significant role in well-being. However, this construct suffers from conceptual ambiguity and measurement problems. The aim of this study was to propose a comprehensive theory and a strong assessment tool to address these limitations. We defined trait boredom as the frequent experience of state boredom resulting from a chronic lack of agency. We developed a six-item self-report scale of the tendency to often experience boredom. Results confirmed a uni-dimensional scale with strong psychometric properties, including adequate internal consistency (ω = .84-.93), interindividual stability (69.04% of variance accounted by a trait factor), and acceptable model fit (CFI = .977-.998, TLI = .962-.997, RMSEA = .025-.090, SRMR = .014-.029). Results confirmed the validity of the scale by showing its associations with related measures. Our findings provide clarity on trait boredom and a strong, new measure to be used in future work.

Laboratory method to induce state boredom increases impulsive choice in people who use cocaine and controls

Background: Impulsive choice is associated with both cocaine use and relapse. Little is known about the influence of transient states on impulsive choice in people who use cocaine (PWUC).Objective: This study investigated the direct effects of induced boredom on impulsive choice (i.e., temporal discounting) in PWUC relative to well-matched community controls.Methods: Forty-one PWUC (≥1× cocaine use in past 3 months; 7 females) and 38 demographically matched controls (5 females) underwent two experimental conditions in counterbalanced order. Temporal discounting was assessed immediately after a standardized boredom induction task (peg-turning) and a self-selected video watched for the same duration (non-boredom). Subjective mood state and perceived task characteristics were assessed at baseline, during experimental manipulations, and after the choice task.Results: PWUC and controls were well matched on sex, age, and socioeconomic status. Groups were also similar in reported use of drugs other than cocaine, except for recent cigarette and alcohol use (PWUC > controls). As expected, peg-turning increased boredom in the sample overall, with higher boredom reported during peg-turning than the video (p < .001, η2p = .20). Participants overall exhibited greater impulsive choice after boredom than non-boredom (p = .028, η2p = .07), with no preferential effects in PWUC (p > .05, BF01 = 2.9).Conclusion: Experimentally induced boredom increased state impulsivity irrespective of cocaine use status - in PWUC and carefully matched controls - suggesting a broad link between boredom and impulsive choice. This is the first study to show that transient boredom directly increases impulsive choice. Data support a viable laboratory method to further parse the effects of boredom on impulsive choice.

High state boredom vastly affects psychiatric inpatients and predicts their treatment duration

Boredom is a ubiquitous, aversive human experience typically elicited by low information and monotony. Boredom can occur either as a transient mental state that prompts individuals to adapt their behavior to avoid monotony or as a temporally stable trait, describing a chronic susceptibility to feeling bored. Increased trait boredom was found to correlate with various psychopathologies and indicators of mental burden. However, the role of state boredom in psychopathological conditions and its implications for psychiatric treatment remain elusive. Here, we address this issue by investigating state boredom and trait boredom in a cohort of psychiatric inpatients and a healthy control cohort. We find that in both groups, state boredom, even more than trait boredom, shows remarkable associations with psychopathology. In the inpatient group, state boredom is implicated broadly in multiple mental disorders and shows an association with treatment in closed psychiatric wards. Furthermore, through statistical modeling, we find that high-state boredom during inpatient therapy is predictive of a longer therapy duration. Thus, we show that state boredom constitutes an indicator of mild and severe psychopathology in different mental disorders, affecting the outcome of psychiatric patients. Potential therapeutic interventions are discussed, aiming to enhance information flow in the brain in order to alleviate boredom in clinical settings.

Effects of a time-use intervention in isolated patients with coronavirus disease 2019: A randomized controlled study

OBJECTIVE

Patients with coronavirus disease experience deterioration in occupational balance and mental health. The primary objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a time-use intervention on the occupational balance of isolated patients with coronavirus disease. Its impact on secondary outcomes including mental health and quality of life was also assessed.

METHODS

This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted in a single community-based hospital. Forty-one patients (19 in the experimental group and 22 in the control group) with coronavirus disease were recruited between February 1, 2021, and March 19, 2021. Participants were randomly assigned to receive a time-use intervention or education on self-activity. The time-use intervention is to plan a daily routine to engage in meaningful occupations. It consisted of 4 steps: time-use analysis, occupation selection, arrangement of activities and practice, and occupational therapist intervention. The control group was educated on self-activity and spent time autonomously.

OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

The primary outcome was occupational balance, evaluated using the Korean version of the Life Balance Inventory. Secondary outcomes were mental health and quality of life assessed using the Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Korean Form of Zung's Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Korean version of the Insomnia Severity Index, Multidimensional State Boredom Scale-8, Fear of Coronavirus Disease: Korean version of the Fear of Coronavirus Disease Scale, and World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument-BRIEF. Outcome measures were evaluated at admission and discharge.

RESULTS

The time-use intervention significantly improved occupational balance (F = 14.12, p < .001) and all other measures of depression, anxiety, boredom, fear, and quality of life. Conversely, the control group showed a worsening pattern for all measures.

CONCLUSION

The time-use intervention is effective for improving occupational balance, mental health, and quality of life in patients with coronavirus disease.

Must one take the bitter with the sweet? Sensory processing sensitivity and factors associated with resilience among artistically inclined individuals

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), linked with a penchant for the arts and creativity, exerts its bivalent influences, contingent on context, on individuals' health-related outcomes. But little is known about how it interacts with creative self-concept (CSC). Focusing on the role of SPS, this study identified risk and protective factors of resilience among artistically inclined individuals from middle to later life during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) restriction period and examined the interaction effect between SPS and CSC on depression. Two stages of analyses were pursued. Stage 1 identified factors associated with resilience by using regression and profile analyses on data from 224 anonymized respondents from middle to third age (Mage = 54.08, SD = 10.08, range = 40-84) with diverse disciplinary backgrounds in visual arts. Stage 2 examined the influence of SPS on the relationship between CSC and depression. SPS, lack of peer support of shared interests in the arts, and depression emerged as risk factors associated with lower levels of resilience. The profiles of SPS components among the relatively high and low resilience groups were found to be divergent. The effects of CSC on depression were contingent upon SPS, controlling for neuroticism. The findings call for future research to examine the differential correlational patterns among the SPS components and neuroticism across different populations. The risk/protective factors and patterns found in this study provide directions for research in SPS and applied work to support artistically inclined individuals from middle to later life.

A longitudinal approach to understanding boredom during pandemics: The predictive roles of trauma and emotion dysregulation

Research during the COVID-19 pandemic and prior outbreaks suggest that boredom is linked to poor compliance with critical lifesaving social distancing and quarantine guidelines, as well as to numerous mental health difficulties. As such, continued understanding on what contributes to boredom is imperative. Extending beyond the roles of constraint, monotony, and trait dispositions (e.g., individual differences in boredom propensity), and informed by prior theories on the emotional contributors of boredom, the current longitudinal study examined the predictive role of "pandemic trauma" on people's boredom, with a focus on how emotion dysregulation mediates this relationship. Community participants (N = 345) completed questionnaires three times across an average of 3 1/2 weeks, rating their pandemic trauma, emotion dysregulation, and boredom over the past week each time. Pandemic trauma was assessed with items querying exposure to coronavirus, as well as the financial, resource-related, and interpersonal pandemic stressors that participants experienced. Emotion dysregulation was assessed with the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Boredom was assessed with the short-form Multidimensional State Boredom Scale. The results of a theory-informed mediation model showed that participants' pandemic trauma at Time 1 positively and modestly predicted their boredom at Time 3 and that this relationship was partially and moderately mediated by participants' lack of emotional clarity and difficulties with engaging in goal-directed behaviors at Time 2. When people experience pandemic-related trauma, they subsequently struggle to understand their feelings and engage in goal-oriented actions, and, in turn, feel more bored. Theoretical and clinical implications as related to the emotional underpinnings of boredom are discussed.

The Boredom Prone Personality: A Multitrait-Multimethod Approach

The present investigation reports the convergent and discriminant validity coefficients for two versions of Farmer and Sundberg's (Journal of Personality Assessment, 50(1), 4-17, 1986) boredom proneness scale. Boredom proneness, a trait that refers to an enduring tendency to disengage from the environment, has been neglected by the field of psychology despite its theoretical relevance to performance and psychological well-being. This report sought: (a) to validate a shortened 8-item version of the original Boredom Proneness Scale published by Struk et al. (Assessment, 24(3), 346-359, 2017) and (b) to extensively examine the boredom proneness construct that the long and short versions of this scale assess. We employed a multitrait-multimethod approach that assessed a large number of theorized effects simultaneously. We replicated dozens of theorized and/or previously observed boredom proneness correlates (convergent validity) as well as many theorized null effects (discriminant validity). The overall pattern of significant and null effect sizes provided compelling evidence that the original boredom proneness scale as well as the 8 items that constitute the shorter version are valid measures of one's susceptibility to boredom. We propose that boredom proneness might be an underappreciated yet important theoretical moderator of Person X Situation effects.

Organisational perspectives on boring prison work: Between emancipation and paranoia

Boredom may take different forms depending on the setting. However, most existing literature portrays it as a negative phenomenon for both individuals and organisations. While boredom is studied primarily via controlled laboratory experiments and questionnaire-based studies, past research has been criticised for neglecting to understand workers’ experiences of boredom in real-world work settings. Drawing on a qualitative case study comprising of interviews with prison officers and ethnographic fieldwork in two Danish prisons, this article explores workers’ experience of boredom embedded in specific organisational work practices of repetitive routines, waiting and meaningless tasks. It shows that workers may take an organisational perspective on their experience of boredom, rather than a personal one, acknowledging the tedious features of work but nevertheless emphasising their organisational value. I use a phenomenological approach to sensemaking to deepen the understanding of how workers’ protests against boredom may not be only destructive but may sometimes take creative forms, leading to positive organising. Drawing on these findings, I extend our understanding of boredom at work.

Boredom belief moderates the mental health impact of boredom among young people: Correlational and multi-wave longitudinal evidence gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives

Young people's experience of boredom and its psychological health sequelae have been exacerbated by the COVID‐19 pandemic. The present study examined the moderating role of boredom beliefs—the extent to which one affectively dislikes boredom (boredom dislike) and cognitively accepts it (boredom normalcy)—on the association between boredom experience and mental well‐being. We also validated a new measure of boredom beliefs in two different samples of young people.

Method

We report data from a correlational study with British young people aged 12–25 (Study 1; N = 2495) and a 16‐week eight‐wave within‐subject study with Israeli adolescents aged 12–18 (Study 2; N = 314).

Results

Across both studies, disliking boredom was associated with higher frequency and intensity of boredom. Boredom dislike moderated the negative association between boredom and mental well‐being, such that the association was more salient among those who strongly disliked boredom. Normalizing boredom was positively associated with mental well‐being. The measure of boredom beliefs demonstrated fair validity and reliability.

Conclusion

Results provide novel insights into the potential buffering effect of boredom beliefs against the mental health impact of boredom, particularly at a time of reduced activity. These findings generalize across two different countries.

Boredom Makes Me Sick: Adolescents' Boredom Trajectories and Their Health-Related Quality of Life

Existing research shows consistent links between boredom and depression, somatic complaints, substance abuse, or obesity and eating disorders. However, comparatively little is known about potential psychological and physical health-related correlates of academic boredom. Evidence for such a relationship can be derived from the literature, as boredom has adverse consequences in both work and achievement-related settings. The present study investigates latent correlations of 1.484 adolescents’ (M_age = 13.23) mathematics boredom scores at three time points during a semester in 2018/19 and their Rasch scaled health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Moreover, we applied latent growth curve modeling to estimate boredom trajectories across the semester and determined the relationship between the latent growth parameters of student boredom and HRQoL in bivariate correlation analyses. Our results show that boredom is significantly negatively linked with all HRQoL dimensions (physical well-being, psychological well-being, autonomy and parent relation, social support and peers, school environment [SCH], and general HRQoL [GH]). Furthermore, stronger increases in boredom across the semester were negatively associated with SCH scores and GH. In conclusion, given that boredom is negatively linked with HRQoL and that stronger boredom growth is linked with more severe health-related problems, signs of academic boredom could be an early warning signal for adolescents’ potentially severe problems.

Boredom by Sensation-Seeking Interactions During Adolescence: Associations with Substance Use, Externalizing Behavior, and Internalizing Symptoms in a US National Sample

During adolescence, sensation seeking is linked to several adverse outcomes including substance use, risk taking, and psychopathology. Recent empirical interest in the construct of boredom has revealed that some similar associations may exist for boredom during adolescence. Both boredom and sensation seeking peak during adolescence, and yet, research on boredom and its interaction with sensation seeking are limited. In a multi-cohort, US nationally representative sample of 8th and 10th grade students from the monitoring the future study, latent-moderated structural equation modeling was used to estimate the association of boredom, sensation seeking, and their interaction, to substance use, externalizing behavior, and depressive affect. Moderation by gender was also tested. Boredom and sensation seeking were both significantly associated with most dependent variables. Significant interaction effects were found wherein individuals high on both boredom and sensation seeking reported the highest levels of depressive affect and externalizing behavior. There were no significant interaction effects for substance use indices. Gender moderation was found for depressive affect. The results of this study demonstrate the generalizability of boredom associations and the significance of boredom by sensation-seeking interactions across multiple mental health domains during adolescence. Prevention efforts that attend to both boredom and sensation seeking may be particularly effective for promoting mental health and preventing externalizing behavior.

The relationship between perceived stress and emotional distress during the COVID-19 outbreak: Effects of boredom proneness and coping style

The outbreak of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was a great threat to the physical and mental health of the general population. Our research aimed to investigate the relationship between perceived stress and emotional distress during the initial outbreak. Furthermore, potential risks and protective factors, i.e., coping and boredom proneness, of stress-related emotional distress were also explored. Data from 3233 participants in China were collected through an online survey platform during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 from January 31 to February 9 in 2020. Results showed that higher perceived stress was associated with more emotional distress including depression, fear, compulsion-anxiety, neurasthenia, and hypochondria. Boredom proneness significantly and positively mediated the relationship between perceived stress and emotional distress. Moreover, coping style moderated the stress-emotional distress relationship, i.e., individuals who mainly adopted positive coping strategies suffered fewer symptoms of depression, compulsion-anxiety, and neurasthenia under stress, while negative coping strategies aggravated emotional distress. These results from the present study provide practical value for mental health intervention during the emergent public health events.

A German Validation of Four Questionnaires Crucial to the Study of Time Perception: BPS, CFC-14, SAQ, and MQT

We aimed to validate four established questionnaires related to time perception in German (Consideration of Future Consequences-14 scale (CFC-14), Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS), Metacognitive Questionnaire on Time (MQT), and Self-Awareness Questionnaire (SAQ)) using a back-translation method. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the data of 273 German-speaking participants to evaluate the factorial structures. Internal consistencies indicated good reliability values of the questionnaires and the respective subscales, except for the MQT. Intercorrelations between the questionnaires were examined to test their external validities and gain additional insight into the associations among the constructs. The consideration of future consequences was negatively linked to boredom proneness, whereas interoceptive awareness of one's bodily sensations was positively associated with boredom proneness. Additionally, interoceptive awareness was linked to metacognitive beliefs about which factors influence time perception. The results are discussed in regard to human time perception. Conclusion: The validated German questionnaires can now be used in research projects. Initial observations on how the questionnaires are related to each other fit the current knowledge on how human time perception works, yielding the first evidence for the external validity of the German versions of these established questionnaires. For evidence of criterion validity, future studies should more thoroughly investigate the external validities analyzing the correlations with other validated measures.

Excessive boredom among adolescents: A comparison between low and high achievers

Existing research shows that high achievement boredom is correlated with a range of undesirable behavioral and personality variables and that the main antecedents of boredom are being over- or under-challenged. However, merely knowing that students are highly bored, without taking their achievement level into account, might be insufficient for drawing conclusions about students' behavior and personality. We, therefore, investigated if low- vs. high-achieving students who experience strong mathematics boredom show different behaviors and personality traits. The sample consisted of 1,404 German secondary school students (fifth to 10th grade, mean age 12.83 years, 52% female). We used self-report instruments to assess boredom in mathematics, behavioral (social and emotional problems, positive/negative affect, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression), and personality variables (neuroticism and conscientiousness). In comparing highly bored students (more than one SD above M, n = 258) who were low vs. high achievers (as indicated by the math grade, n = 125 / n = 119), results showed that there were no mean level differences across those groups for all variables. In conclusion, our results suggest that high boredom can occur in both low- and high-achieving students and that bored low- and high-achievers show similar behaviors and personality profiles.

Boredom Proneness and Aggression Among People With Substance Use Disorder: The Mediating Role of Trait Anger and Impulsivity

Boredom proneness has been linked to aggressive behaviors; however, the relationship between them is not well understood. To better understand the mechanism underlying the relationship between boredom proneness and aggression, a serial multiple mediator model was built, where boredom proneness impacted aggression simultaneously through (a) impulsivity, (b) trait anger, and (c) impulsivity to trait anger. Using data collected among Chinese substance users, a battery of interview questionnaires was completed. Results from this study indicate a positive relationship between boredom proneness, impulsivity, trait anger, and aggression. Moreover, the mediating role of impulsivity, trait anger, and both impulsivity and trait anger in serial were found. This study reflects that the link from boredom proneness to aggression among substances users could be partially explained via impulsivity and anger.

The Moral Dimensions of Boredom: A Call for Research

Despite the impressive progress that has been made on both the empirical and conceptual fronts of boredom research, there is one facet of boredom that has received remarkably little attention. This is boredom's relationship to morality. The aim of this article is to explore the moral dimensions of boredom and to argue that boredom is a morally relevant personality trait. The presence of trait boredom hinders our capacity to flourish and in doing so hurts our prospects for a moral life.

The antecedents, experience, and coping strategies of driver boredom in young adult males

INTRODUCTION

Road crash statistics are evidence of the severe consequences resulting from human error, especially among young adult males. Drivers perform best and safest when they are adequately engaged in the driving task. Boredom and a lack of engagement in the driving task may cause risk taking and phone use. However, the antecedents to driver boredom, the subjective experience itself, as well as the coping strategies to combat boredom are not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate these aspects.

METHOD

We carried out a qualitative study in a simulated, safe, yet highly immersive driving environment. The 24 participants included male drivers aged 18 to 25 susceptible to risky driving and phone use. A phenomenological framework was used to analyze their accounts of the experience of boredom while driving.

RESULTS

Results indicate that situations giving rise to driver boredom include low traffic, slow or constant speed, and routine drives. Feelings comprising the experience were frustration, vigilance, relaxing, autopilot, mind wandering, and discomfort. Coping mechanisms manifest themselves in approach strategies related to the driving task such as speeding, which are often dangerous, and avoidance strategies, which include phone use.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that driver boredom bears similarities to the experience of boredom at work (unlike boredom at home) due to the situational constraints, where people feel stuck, trapped, or obliged to remain vigilant.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

The findings present an opportunity for the road safety and automotive technology community to address the issue of under-stimulation through safety interventions aimed at increased task engagement. Our work can also aid in investigating driver experiences in partially automated driving, which is likely to induce boredom as well.

Does state boredom cause failures of attention? Examining the relations between trait boredom, state boredom, and sustained attention

Boredom is an important personal and social problem, but the phenomena itself remains poorly understood. Recent work has shown that boredom is highly related to attention, and that this relationship may be instrumental in revealing boredom's causes and consequences. In this paper, experimental findings on trait boredom, state boredom, and sustained attention performance are presented. We demonstrate that trait boredom uniquely predicts sustained attention performance, over and above depression and self-report attention problems. We also present exploratory findings consistent with the claim that attention failures may cause boredom and that sustained attention tasks may themselves be boring. Discussion of each of these findings, and potential ramifications for cognitive research as a whole, is included.

A Short Boredom Proneness Scale

It has been evident for some time that the Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS), a commonly used measure of trait boredom, does not constitute a single scale. Factor analytic studies have identified anything from two to seven factors, prompting Vodanovich and colleagues to propose an alternative two factor, short form version Boredom Proneness Scale-Short Form (BPS-SR). The present study further investigates the factor structure and validity of both the BPS and the BPS-SR. The two-factor solution obtained for the BPS-SR appears to be an artifact of item wording of reverse-scored items. These same items may also have contributed to the earlier complexity and inconsistency of results for the full BPS. An eight-item scale of only consistently worded items (i.e., those not requiring reverse scoring) was developed. This new scale demonstrated unidimensionality and the scale score had good internal consistency and construct validity comparable to the original BPS score.

Exploring the Utility of the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale

Abstract. State boredom – the experience of boredom in the moment – is related to a number of psychosocial issues. Until the recent creation of the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale (MSBS), research was constrained by the lack of a comprehensive, validated measure. However, the MSBS could benefit from further evaluation. To more thoroughly validate the MSBS. In two studies, participants were induced into a state of either boredom or non-boredom, and then completed the MSBS. Discriminant analysis showed that the full MSBS was able to correctly classify 68.1% (Study 2) – 84.1% (Study 1) of participants into their experimental condition. Based on further DA analysis, a subset of eight items (a potential short form) is proposed. Differential item functioning (Study 1) found only one item to which responding differed by gender. Use of the MSBS, including the full scale versus the short form, is discussed. Which experiential components of boredom may be particularly important for classifying bored individuals, and the issue of variability across boredom manipulations, are also considered.

Self-Report Measures of Boredom: An Updated Review of the Literature

A detailed review of the psychometric measures of boredom was published approximately 12 years ago (Vodanovich, 2003). Since that time, numerous studies have been conducted on existing scales, and new measures of boredom have been developed. Given these assessment advancements, an updated review of self-report boredom scales is warranted. The primary focus of the current review is research published since 2003, and it includes a total of 16 boredom scales. The measures reviewed consist of two trait assessments (Boredom Proneness Scale, Boredom Susceptibility subscale of the Sensation Seeking Scale), five context-specific trait boredom scales (Boredom Coping Scale, Leisure Boredom Scale, Free Time Boredom Scale, Sexual Boredom Scale, Relational Boredom Scale), three assessments of state boredom (Multidimensional State Boredom Scale, State Boredom Measure, Boredom Experience Scale), and six context-specific state boredom measures-Lee's Job Boredom Scale, Dutch Boredom Scale, Boredom Coping Scale (Academic), the Boredom subscale of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire, Academic Boredom Scale, Precursors to Boredom Scale. In addition to providing a review of these measures, a brief critique of each scale is included, as well as suggestions for needed research focus.

I can't get no satisfaction: potential causes of boredom

A variety of causes of boredom have been proposed including environmental, motivational, emotional, and cognitive factors. Here, we explore four potential cognitive causes of boredom: inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and executive dysfunction. Specifically, we examine the unique and common associations between these factors and boredom propensity. Recent research has established that the two most commonly used measures of boredom propensity (BPS and BSS) are not measuring the same underlying construct. Thus, a second goal of the present project is to determine the unique and common roles of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and poor executive system functioning in predicting the BPS and BSS specifically. The findings reveal that inattention, hyperactivity and executive dysfunction predict boredom propensity, with shared variance accounting for the greater part of this effect. Further, executive dysfunction and hyperactivity uniquely predict boredom propensity as measured by the BPS and BSS, respectively.