Exploring the causes of boredom at school : development and validation of the Konstanz antecedents to boredom scales

Abstract

Boredom has been found to have important implications for students in achievement settings, however the antecedents of this emotion have been largely unexplored. Therefore, the current study sought to create scales that assessed the antecedents of boredom in academic achievement settings. A questionnaire was developed and administered to 1380 students (grades 5 to 10) in mathematics which investigated possible causes of boredom and aspects of instruction that may be relevant to the development of boredom. The structure of the boredom scales was supported by confirmatory factor analysis and validated against several scales of instructional quality. Discussion focuses on the implications of the current findings for research on boredom among students.