Boredom in young adults: Gender and Cultural Comparisons

Little research has been done on boredom within or across cultures. The authors carried out comparisons of college students in Australia, Hong Kong, Lebanon and the United States with the Boredom Proneness (BP) Scale. A principal component analysis of the four samples revealed similar factor loadings and alpha coefficients. An ANOVA among groups showed a significant main effect of culture. A gender effect was also significant. Australian and U.S. samples were similar in their BP levels. Lebanese students, followed by the Hong Kong students, reported the highest amount of boredom proneness. Within all cultural groups males scored higher than females and significantly so in the United States and Australia. We identified 15 items that were transcultural in that they loaded on the first factor in all samples. Boredom proneness was found to share about half of its elements across cultures, leaving about half culturally specific. The authors explored the reasons for cultural and gender differences and pointed to directions for further research on this little investigated emotional condition.