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

Manuel M. Schwartze, Anne C. Frenzel, Thomas Goetz, Reinhard Pekrun, Corinna Reck, Anton K.G. Marx and Daniel Fiedler
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Manuel M. Schwartze: Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80539 Munich, Germany
Anne C. Frenzel: Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80539 Munich, Germany
Thomas Goetz: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Reinhard Pekrun: Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80539 Munich, Germany
Corinna Reck: Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80539 Munich, Germany
Anton K.G. Marx: Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80539 Munich, Germany
Daniel Fiedler: Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80539 Munich, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: achievement emotions; boredom; adolescents; health-related quality of life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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