Poster #11 - Phenomenology of Boredom Coping: Understanding Students' Lived Experiences of Coping With Boredom in College

• In Event: 18.060 - MTCC Poster Session Two
  In Poster Session: 18.060-2 - Emotion Regulation and Affective Experiences in Learning Contexts

Abstract

Boredom has been identified as one of the most frequently and intensely experienced academic emotions and detrimental to student learning, motivation, self-regulation, and achievement; yet, there has been little research into how students cope with or regulate boredom. Using a phenomenological research method, the present study sought to fill this gap in the literature through the thematic analysis of fifteen college students’ descriptions of academic boredom and coping. Participants completed two interviews and three journal entries wherein they provided experiential accounts of boredom and coping in college. Thematic analyses revealed four boredom themes (lack of involvement, discomfort and aversion, emptiness, desire for escape) and four boredom coping themes (feeling disrespectful and rude, turning away, turning toward, seeking meaning).

Authors

• Kyle Adam Hubbard, McGill University

• Nathan C. Hall, McGill University

• Anna Sverdlik, McGill University