Boredom proneness--the development and correlates of a new scale
Abstract
This article reports the development, validation, and correlates of a self-report measure of boredom proneness. The 28-item Boredom Proneness (BP) Scale demonstrates satisfactory levels of internal consistency (coefficient alpha = .79) and test-retest reliability (r = .83) over a 1-week interval. Evidence of validity for the BP is supported by correlations with other boredom measures and from a set of studies evaluating interest and attention in the classroom. Other hypothesized relationships with boredom were tested, with significant positive associations found with depression, hopelessness, perceived effort, loneliness, and amotivational orientation. Additional findings indicate boredom proneness to be negatively related to life satisfaction and autonomy orientation. The relationship of boredom to other affective states is discussed, and directions for future research are outlined.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
People who are prone to boredom frequently have significant feelings of loneliness and low self-esteem.
“People who are prone to boredom frequently have significant feelings of loneliness and low self-esteem (Farmer and Sundberg, 1986; Vodanovich, 2003).”
From The effect of short-form video addiction on undergraduates' academic procrastination: a moderated mediation model (2023) · cites this paper as Farmer and Sundberg, 1986
Cites
The CES-D Scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population
Radloff, L. S. (1977) · Applied Psychological Measurement · doi:10.1177/014662167700100306 · Cited by 53,267 · see citing works
An inventory for measuring depression
BECK, A. T. (1961) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1961.01710120031004 · Cited by 38,032 · see citing works
The measurement of pessimism: the hopelessness scale
Beck, A. T., Weissman, A., Lester, D., & Trexler, L. (1974) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0037562 · Cited by 5,494 · see citing works
Developing a measure of loneliness
Russell, D., Peplau, L. A., & Ferguson, M. L. (1978) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4203_11 · Cited by 2,089 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Exposure and affect: Overview and meta-analysis of research, 1968–1987.
Bornstein, R. F. (1989) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.106.2.265 · Cited by 1,970 · see citing works
Kashdan, T. B., Rose, P., & Fincham, F. D. (2004) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa8203_05 · Cited by 888 · see citing works
Sharma, L., Markon, K. E., & Clark, L. A. (2014) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0034418 · Cited by 630 · see citing works
Does personal social media usage affect efficiency and well-being?
Brooks, S. (2015) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.12.053 · Cited by 434 · see citing works
Impulsivity in pathological gambling: The antisocial impulsivist
BLASZCZYNSKI, A., STEEL, Z., & McCONAGHY, N. (1997) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.1997.tb03639.x · Cited by 367 · see citing works
The brain in your pocket: Evidence that Smartphones are used to supplant thinking
Barr, N., Pennycook, G., Stolz, J. A., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2015) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.029 · Cited by 327 · see citing works
Everyday attention lapses and memory failures: The affective consequences of mindlessness
Carriere, J. S. A., Cheyne, J. A., & Smilek, D. (2008) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2007.04.008 · Cited by 319 · see citing works
Yan, L., Gan, Y., Ding, X., Wu, J., & Duan, H. (2021) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102328 · Cited by 236 · see citing works
Exploring the relationship between boredom and sustained attention
Malkovsky, E., Merrifield, C., Goldberg, Y., & Danckert, J. (2012) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/s00221-012-3147-z · Cited by 238 · see citing works
In search of meaningfulness: Nostalgia as an antidote to boredom
van Tilburg, W. A. P., Igou, E. R., & Sedikides, C. (2013) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0030442 · Cited by 236 · see citing works
Academic boredom in under- and over-challenging situations
Acee, T. W., Kim, H., Kim, H. J., Kim, J.-I., Chu, H.-N. R., Kim, M., Cho, Y., & Wicker, F. W. (2010) · Contemporary Educational Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2009.08.002 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
The role of metacognitions in problematic Internet use
Spada, M. M., Langston, B., Nikčević, A. V., & Moneta, G. B. (2008) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2007.12.002 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Taylor, S. (2022) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-072720-020131 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Distinguishing Reactive versus Reflective Autonomy
Koestner, R., & Losier, G. F. (1996) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1996.tb00518.x · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Lee, F. K. S., & Zelman, D. C. (2019) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2019.04.001 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Holte, A. J., & Ferraro, F. R. (2020) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106465 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Xie, J., Xu, X., Zhang, Y., Tan, Y., Wu, D., Shi, M., & Huang, H. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1298361 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Spaeth, M., Weichold, K., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2015) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0039480 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Adolescent addiction to short video applications in the mobile internet era
Lu, L., Liu, M., Ge, B., Bai, Z., & Liu, Z. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.893599 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Faria, A. L., Latorre, J., Silva Cameirão, M., Bermúdez i Badia, S., & Llorens, R. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1233346 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
PASSIK, S. D., INMAN, A., KIRSH, K., THEOBALD, D., & DICKERSON, P. (2003) · Palliative and Supportive Care · doi:10.1017/s1478951503030062 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Mesolimbic dopamine release precedes actively sought aversive stimuli in mice
Yawata, Y., Shikano, Y., Ogasawara, J., Makino, K., Kashima, T., Ihara, K., Yoshimoto, A., Morikawa, S., Yagishita, S., Tanaka, K. F., et al. (2023) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38130-3 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
- Authors
- Farmer, R., & Sundberg, N. D.
- Affiliations
- University of Oregon (US)
- ORCID
- Farmer, Richard
- Venue
- Journal of Personality Assessment
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1986-03
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 4-17
- ISSN
- 0022-3891 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7752
- OpenAlex
- W1994296542
- Cited by
- 986
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 43 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 62 · 2022: 71 · 2021: 74 · 2020: 70 · 2019: 47 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 46 · 2016: 44 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 29
- FWCI
- 1.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality Assessment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Mind wandering and attention
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychological and Educational Research Studies
- Keywords
- boredom proneness, Boredom Proneness Scale, scale development, self-report measures, depression, hopelessness, perceived effort, loneliness, life satisfaction, autonomy orientation, interest, attention, classroom behavior, affective states
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Boredom, Depression, Humans, Learning Disabilities, Motivation, Personality Inventory, Psychometrics
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
