Leisure and Boredom

Inspired by recent reports that boredom is becoming an increasingly greater individual and societal problem, this study sought answers to the following questions: What factors contribute to the sense of leisure as boredom? How is the sense of leisure as boredom related to leisure and life satisfaction? Based upon the data obtained from the responses of 134 community residents, the results indicated, in complete support of the theoretical predictions, that leisure attitudes, leisure repertoire, self-motivation, and awareness of the psychological value of leisure were negatively and significantly related to the boredom perception, while the contributions of work attitudes and leisure constraints to boredom in leisure were significant and positive. The boredom perception was negatively (significantly) related to leisure satisfaction, but not related at all to life satisfaction. Awareness of the psychological value of leisure was by far the best predictor of the boredom perception, with its contribution to the total multiple R2 (.60) being one-half (.30). These results have important implications for those educators and practitioners who are making people cognitively conscious of the potential of leisure to enrich their lives.