Does a Lack of Life Meaning Cause Boredom? Results from Psychometric, Longitudinal, and Experimental Analyses

Abstract

existential theory and previous qualitative research have suggested that a lack of life meaning and purpose causes boredom, as well as other types of negative affect such as depression or anxiety. although these variables have been shown to be correlated at one point in time, the relationships among these constructs have not been investigated using a controlled, quantitative research design. in Study 1a (N = 131), boredom was shown to be related to, yet psychometrically distinct from, life meaning, depression, and anxiety. in Study 1b (N = 88), life meaning significantly predicted changes in boredom across time while depression and anxiety did not. in addition, boredom was a significant predictor of changes in life meaning across time, while depression and anxiety were not. Finally, in Study 2 (N = 102), manipulating perceptions of life meaning significantly changed boredom, while a manipulation of mood did not. the nature of the relationship between life meaning and boredom, as well as some clinical implications, are discussed.Boredom is a common yet insidious human experience. although boredom makes "no grand gestures, nor great cries" (Baudelaire, 1993, p. 7) and, on first glance, appears deceptively simple, a closer examination reveals an intractable and complex malady. the term boredom is used to refer to a wide range of experience, from trivial and transient dissatisfaction, to extreme, chronic suffering. In terms of its defining elements, however, boredom involves dissatisfaction with and disengagement from one's environment and/or current acportions of this research (study 2) are based on the master's thesis of the first author. correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to dr. John eastwood, department of psychology, york university,

On boredom: Lack of challenge and meaning as distinct boredom experiences

“…Items relating to sadness, anger, and frustration were taken from Roseman and colleagues 2 and we generated items for boredom based on literature. Specifically, research suggests that boredom relates to a lack of challenge (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), a lack of purpose or meaning (e.g., Barbalet, 1999;Fahlman et al, 2009), and a subsequent desire for changing aspects of the situation or to pursue challenge and meaning in subsequent behavior (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi, 2000;Smith et al, 2009). We focused especially on these domains of the proposed boredom experience because they seemed to be central to the boredom experience and may have a particularly pronounced impact on subsequent behavior (e.g., Sansone, 1992;Rupp & Vodanovich, 1997).…”

On Boredom and Perceptions of Heroes: A Meaning-Regulation Approach to Heroism

“…For example, some of the research on boredom proneness indicates that it is associated with a greater likelihood to suffer from severe social and psychological dysfunctions, such as eating disorders and pathological gambling (e.g., Blaszczynski et al, 1990). Other findings suggest that boredom proneness correlates with a string of negative emotions, such as depression, fear, anxiety, loneliness, and hopelessness (e.g., Fahlman, Mercer, Gaskovski, Eastwood, & Eastwood, 2009). …”

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“…Studies in this category have been consistently conducted across all three decades searched, with the majority being empirical (62%). Self-report measures were typically utilized to assess state boredom, and such research has suggested that state boredom is conceptually distinct from feelings of depression, anxiety, frustration, and perceptions of life meaning (Fahlman et al 2009). In fact, recent work on sequences of emotions has suggested that frustration can either be an antecedent or a consequence of boredom D'Mello et al 2007).…”