Development of a school boredom proneness scale for children

Author

Taylor CarringtonFollow

Preferred Name

Taylor Carrington

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Date of Graduation

Summer 2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Educational Specialist (EdS)

Department

Department of Graduate Psychology

Advisor(s)

Ashton Trice

Tammy Gilligan

S. Jeanne Horst

Abstract

One common phrase heard from students is, “I’m bored.” However, there is no real understanding of what this actually means. In this study, elementary-age students were asked to respond to a newly developed School Boredom Proneness Scale (SBPS) including questions relating to a five-factor model of boredom. Students were also asked to rate how often they become bored at school and how bored they seem compared to classmates. In addition to student responses, parents and teachers were asked to rate how bored they thought the student was, and teachers were additionally asked to rate students’ level of work completion. The researchers found that the higher students’ total school boredom proneness scores were, the higher self-ratings of boredom, comparison to classmates, and teacher ratings of boredom were; however, total scores did not correlate with parent ratings of boredom. The researchers also found that teacher ratings of work completion were significantly and negatively correlated with students’ total school boredom proneness score. Results of the study also showed that scores on the total scale were reliable, but scores on the subscales were not. These analyses extend previous work (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986), in which a Boredom Proneness Scale (BPS) for adults was developed.

Recommended Citation

Carrington, Taylor, "Development of a school boredom proneness scale for children" (2019). Educational Specialist, 2009-2019. 151.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/edspec201019/151