This study examines how boredom in college students correlates to the frequency of cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco use. For this study, boredom is characterized by “feelings of dissatisfaction, restlessness, and weariness, and conceptualized as an unpleasant emotional state of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity.” Boredom has been known to lead to adverse outcomes such as drug or alcohol use, cigarette smoking, and opioid misuse. It has been associated with risky behaviors in college students.
Participants consisted of 414 undergraduate students. Boredom susceptibility, boredom proneness, frequency of substance use, past month’s substance use, and weekly substance use were measured. Boredom is a widespread experience among college students and all ages. This study supported preexisting literature that boredom susceptibility is associated with alcohol and tobacco use. However, for this study, boredom proneness was only related to monthly alcohol use, not weekly alcohol use. The age and sex of the individual were significant for tobacco use. Male students overall report higher levels of boredom than female students.
College students who experienced high boredom susceptibility tended to respond by engaging in sensation seeking. The study suggests this could be because those individuals desire stimulation and may use maladaptive boredom coping mechanisms. Findings also show that college students higher in boredom susceptibility compared to those high in boredom proneness possibly need more support to help deal with boredom. This is because those higher in boredom susceptibility are more likely to use maladaptive boredom coping mechanisms such as substance use. This information can help develop new intervention and prevention techniques for targeting college students’ boredom susceptibility in hopes of addressing substance misuse.
Takeaway: College students that experienced high boredom susceptibility tended to respond by engage in sensation seeking. The study suggest that this could be because those individuals desire stimulation and may use maladaptive boredom coping mechanisms.