When boredom settles in: Measurement of individual differences in boredom responses

This investigation develops a measure of individual differences in responses during boredom. Boredom creates motivation to seek new options and opportunities, but those novel activities can be beneficial or detrimental. Therefore, how people respond to boredom has important implications for well-being and functioning. Items were developed by eliciting and coding thoughts and behaviors that occurred during boring experiences, then assessing the relationship of items with one another and an associated construct. The resulting Boredom Responses Scale (BRS) included 8 items representing disengagement strategies and 4 items representing engagement strategies. In Study 1, the BRS demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity in relation to apathy, general emotion regulation, boredom proneness, general self-control, and need for cognition. The BRS also was associated with affect, anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and boredom after a boredom manipulation. The BRS scale demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity in Study 2, and additionally predicted worsening negative affect, worsening anxiety symptoms and depression symptoms over time. These relationships held after accounting for boredom proneness, demonstrating incremental validity of the BRS over this widely used measure.