A Primer on the Role of Boredom in Self-Controlled Sports and Exercise Behavior

Abstract

Self-control is critical for successful participation and performance in sports and therefore has attracted considerable research interest. Yet, knowledge about self-control remains surprisingly incomplete and inconsistent. Here, we draw attention to boredom as an experience that likely plays an important role in sports and exercise (e.g., exercise can be perceived as boring but can also be used to alleviate boredom). Specifically, we argue that studying boredom in the context of sports and exercise will also advance our understanding of self-control as a reward-based choice. We demonstrate this by discussing evidence for links between self-control and boredom and by highlighting the role boredom plays for guiding goal-directed behavior. As such, boredom is likely to interact with self-control in affecting sports performance and exercise participation. We close by highlighting several promising routes for integrating self-control and boredom research in the context of sports performance and exercise behavior.

Online Exercise Classes during the COVID-19 Related Lockdown in Germany: Use and Attitudes

“…About 70% of OEC users did not perceive OEC as boring, which is an additional asset. Experience of boredom has been identified as a barrier to PA [43] and might detrimentally affect performance as well as contributing to a feeling of exercise being more taxing [44].…”

A single item measure of self-control – validation and location in a nomological network of self-control, boredom, and if-then planning

“…To further assess if the single item measure of self-control captures the same concept as the BSCS, we assess correlations with distinct but related psychological constructs. Building on recent theoretical [20][21][22][23] and empirical 5,[24][25][26] work, we chose if-then planning and boredom proneness as constructs for evaluating divergent validity. Below we explicate the reasons for choosing these constructs, the characteristics of the employed questionnaires, and the expected strength of relations with the single item self-control measure.…”

Perceptions of Control Influence Feelings of Boredom

“…The tendency to experience boredom more frequently and intensely-so-called boredom proneness (Tam et al, 2021)-is associated with a raft of negative outcomes, including substance abuse (Wiesner et al, 2005;Amos et al, 2006;LePera, 2011;German and Latkin, 2012), depression (Goldberg et al, 2011), and poor academic achievement (O'Hanlon, 1981;Maroldo, 1986). The in-the-moment feeling of boredom-state boredom-is an aversive experience arising from an inability to engage in satisfying activities (Eastwood et al, 2012), a notion consistent with the finding that poor selfcontrol is linked with increased boredom proneness (Struk et al, 2015;Isacescu et al, 2017;Mugon et al, 2020;Wolff et al, 2021).…”