Abstract

Everyone experiences boredom from time to time in diverse situations. The present study examined Koreans’ daily experience of boredom and the personal and situational correlates of boredom by conducting an experience sampling study. 480 South Korean adults participated in 14 days of experience sampling, and a total of 15,838 reports was collected. The multilevel analysis results indicated that boredom was more experienced by participants with younger age, lower subjective socioeconomic status, and lower income. Also, Koreans’ boredom experience depending on four situational correlates of boredom including 1) co-occurring emotions, 2) current activity, 3) social setting, and 4) day-of-week was examined. The present study is the first attempt to capture a comprehensive understanding of Koreans’ boredom, not only by exploring individual differences of boredom based on demographic characteristics, but also by examining changes of boredom experienced within individuals depending on time and situation. Our findings hold implications for the Korean boredom literature by overcoming the limitations of boredom research in Korea which has mainly focused on limited areas of leisure, adolescent, education, etc. Based on our findings, future directions of boredom research in Korea are discussed.