Boredom Proneness Scale

Assess and understand boredom tendencies with the Boredom Proneness Scale, a valuable tool for mental health professionals to evaluate emotional and cognitive states.

By Carepatron Team on Aug 2, 2025.

Fact Checked by Ericka Pingol.

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What is the Boredom Proneness Scale?

Boredom is an unpleasant mental state that arises from repetitive situations and a lack of cognitive engagement, significantly influencing human perception and behavior across different cultures.

Meanwhile, chronic boredom is linked with negative mood and depressive symptoms in adults (Lee & Zelman, 2019) and children, along with being recognized as a behavioral driver for negative outcomes, such as overeating (Abramson & Stinson, 1977) and alcohol consumption (Windle & Windle, 2018).

When managed effectively, boredom can also have positive effects by encouraging the search for new information and fostering exploration of one's environment (Bench & Lench, 2013). Individuals who feel half dead and dull or often trapped in situations where nothing seems to be passing may experience these effects more intensely.

Boredom can be categorized into state boredom, described as temporally limited experience of boredom, and trait boredom, considered as a rather stable individual proneness to be bored (Zerr, et al., 2024). The Boredom Proneness Scale can be used to apply trait boredom under healthy and pathological conditions (Zerr, et al., 2024), including among those with underlying mental health issues.

The Boredom Proneness Scale test (BPS) is a 28-item self-report measure of boredom proneness among an individual. Each item on the BPS assesses the following aspects of boredom (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986):

Difficulty concentrating
Feeling like time is passing slowly
Feeling like life is boring
Lack of interest in activities
Feeling fidgety and restless
Feeling like there is nothing to do

The items delve into topics such as waiting patiently, challenging things, same things, monotonous and tiresome situations, and someone's home movies. It also considers how an individual views themselves and their behavior; examples include whether they are seldom excited, a creative or imaginative person, whether they have free time due to their so many interests, and situations of both meaningless things and challenging things.

The scale helps identify whether someone is good at waiting patiently or whether they constantly seek more stimulation or a new idea to break the cycle of monotony.

Boredom Proneness Scale Template

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How to use our Boredom Proneness Scale template

Our free Boredom Proneness Scale template is easy to use and printable. Follow these steps to get started:

Step 1: Download the template

Access the Boredom Proneness Scale template by clicking "Use template," allowing you to edit the resource via the Carepatron app. For a PDF copy, choose "Download."

Step 2: Familiarize the template

The template is designed to guide you through the Boredom Proneness Scale, which includes space for essential patient information. The template follows the standard Boredom Proneness Scale composed of 28 items.

Step 3: Ask the patient to complete

Give the template to the patient to complete, ensuring that they fill out their details. Before completion, emphasize that these are subjective questions. Explain that it is crucial to provide honest answers to attain an accurate result.

Be sure to guide the individual through the template, helping them with questions if necessary while ensuring not to suggest any answers.

Step 4: Score their answers and discuss steps

Add up all their answers to find their total score. Once you have the score, you can discuss the results together, exploring what it means and identifying any patterns or areas to address.

Scoring

Scoring the BPS is a simple process. The Boredom Proneness Scale is a self-reported questionnaire consisting of 28 items, rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”

Items 1, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 18, 22, 23, and 24 are reverse scored. To calculate the total score, reverse these items first, then add up all the scores. Higher scores indicate a greater tendency to experience boredom.

Next steps after using the Boredom Proneness Scale

After administering the Boredom Proneness Scale, you can take several important steps to further understand and address an individual's boredom levels.

Review results

Identify trends and patterns within the findings to get a more comprehensive assessment. You can do this in mental health and non-clinical environments to gain insight into aspects of an individual's boredom levels.

Discuss results with the patient

Open a sensitive and nonjudgmental conversation with the patient to discuss the results. Aim to get a well-rounded understanding of the patient, considering the broader context of their life and the social factors that may be influencing their boredom.

Integrate results into clinical formulations

Use the results to aid in clinical formulations, helping you guide targeted interventions specific to the individual's needs. The results can also be used alongside other psychological assessment tools to enhance clinical approach and monitor progress.

Tailor interventions based on findings

You can develop personalized strategies to address boredom and its underlying causes based on the results. This may involve behavioral, cognitive, or environmental interventions aimed at improving engagement and emotional well-being.

References

Abramson, E. E., & Stinson, S. G. (1977). Boredom and eating in obese and non-obese individuals. Addictive Behaviors, 2(4), 181–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4603(77)90015-6

Bench, S. W., & Lench, H. C. (2013). On the function of boredom. Behavioral sciences, 3(3), 459-472.

Farmer, R., & Sundberg, N. D. (1986). Boredom proneness: The development and correlates of a new scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 50(1), 4–17. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa5001_2

Lee, F. K. S., & Zelman, D. C. (2019). Boredom proneness as a predictor of depression, anxiety and stress: The moderating effects of dispositional mindfulness. Personality and Individual Differences, 146, 68–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.04.001

Windle, R. C., & Windle, M. (2018). Adolescent precursors of young adult drinking motives. Addictive Behaviors, 82, 151–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.03.002

Zerr, K., Seiler, J. P. H., Rumpel, S., & Tüscher, O. (2024). Validation of a German version of the Boredom Proneness Scale and the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 2905.

Commonly asked questions

Boredom can negatively affect mental health by increasing feelings of frustration, restlessness, and dissatisfaction. When prolonged, it may contribute to the development or worsening of conditions such as anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.

Yes. People experiencing boredom may engage in unhealthy behaviors to fill the void or escape discomfort. Common coping mechanisms include overeating, excessive screen time, substance use, and impulsive spending, all of which can further harm mental well-being.

Yes, persistent boredom can be a symptom of underlying mental health conditions such as depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or dysthymia (chronic low-grade depression). It could indicate a deeper issue if you often feel "half dead" or dull. It's important to seek medical attention if these feelings persist, as they may be linked to an underlying condition.