Contrasting Effects of Two Kinds of Boredom on Alcohol Use

Despite its prominence among common sense explanations of alcohol use and drinking problems, the phenomenon of boredom has received remarkably little attention among alcohol researchers. This study focuses on two distinctive kinds of boredom identified in an earlier survey and relates them to drinking behavior in a student sample. A scale of Existential Boredom (e.g., frequency of boredom, a lack of purpose in life) was found in multiple regression analyses to have a strong, positive relationship to frequency of alcohol use among males. A scale measuring Interpersonal Boredom (e.g., boredom with “small talk” versus feelings of “happiness with people”) was inversely related to quantity of alcohol consumed by both males and females. These and other findings suggest that the mundane situational experience of boredom has important consequences that are worthy of further sociological investigation.