Coping Strategies with Boredom in Class: Scale Development and Validation

Year 2022, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 207 - 227, 31.12.2022

Büşra Kökçam , Ayşin Satan

https://doi.org/10.54535/rep.1202021

Cited By: 2

Abstract

This study sought to develop a new scale of coping strategies with boredom in class (CBCS) and test its reliability and validity across subsamples of undergraduate and graduate students. The entire sample consisted of 1561 students, with more female (N = 967) than male participants (N = 594). When developing the scale, 367 undergraduate students were asked what they did when they were bored in class and whether they made any effort to focus on the lecture. The exploratory (N = 636) and confirmatory factor analyses (N =355) suggested that the CBCS demonstrated a good internal consistency, dimensionality and latent factor structure. The four factors that emerged from the exploratory factor analysis were named Cognitive Approach, Behavioral Avoidance Based on Simple Stimuli, Cognitive Avoidance and Behavioral Avoidance Based on Activating Stimuli. The CBCS also demonstrated significant convergent validity with related scales used in the literature. The CBCS is shown to be a promising measure of coping strategies with boredom in class.

Keywords

Scale development, Academic boredom, Coping strategies, Scale development

References

• Acee, T. W., Kim, H., Kim, H. J., Kim, J.-I., Chu, H.-N. R., Kim, M., . . . Wicker, F. W. (2010). Academic boredom in under- and over-challenging situations. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 35(1), 17-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2009.08.002
• Atkinson, J. W. (1957). Motivational determinants of risk-taking behavior. Psychological Review, 64(6, Pt.1), 359–372. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0043445
• Atkinson, J.W. (1964). An introduction to motivation. Van Nostrand.
• Ballı, A. İ. K., ve Kılıç, K. C. (2016). Stresle başa çıkma yöntemleri ölçeğinin Türkçe'ye uyarlanması: geçerlilik ve güvenirlik çalışması [Validity and reliability study for the Turkish adaptation of the Coping Response Inventory]. Çukurova Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 25(3), 273-286.
• Bearden, L. J., Spencer, W. A., & Moracco, J. C. (1989). A study of high school dropouts. The School Counselor, 37(2), 113-120. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23901595
• Craig, S. D., D'Mello, S., Witherspoon, A., & Graesser, A. (2008). Emote aloud during learning with AutoTutor: Applying the facial action coding system to cognitive–affective states during learning. Cognition and Emotion, 22(5), 777-788. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930701516759
• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper & Row.
• Daniels, L. M., Stupnisky, R. H., Pekrun, R., Haynes, T. L., Perry, R. P., & Newall, N. E. (2009). A longitudinal analysis of achievement goals: From affective antecedents to emotional effects and achievement outcomes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(4), 948. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0016096
• Daniels, L. M., Tze, V. M., & Goetz, T. (2015). Examining boredom: Different causes for different coping profiles. Learning and Individual Differences, 37, 255-261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2014.11.004
• Daschmann, E. C., Goetz, T., & Stupnisky, R. H. (2011). Testing the predictors of boredom at school: Development and validation of the precursors to boredom scales. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(3), 421-440. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709910X526038
• Demirkasımoğlu, N. (2017). Üniversite öğrencilerinin derste can sıkıntısına ilişkin görüşleri: öğretmen adayları üzerine bir araştırma [University students’ opinions related to boredom at class: A research on prospective teachers]. Journal of Higher Education, 7(1), 10-27. https://doi.org/10.2399/yod.17.002
• Dinno, A. (2014). Gently clarifying the application of Horn’s parallel analysis to principal component analysis versus factor analysis [Unpublished manuscript]. Portland State University. http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/10527
• DeVellis, R. F. (2016). Scale development: Theory and applications. Sage publications.
• D’Mello, S., & Graesser, A. (2009). Automatic detection of learner’s affect from gross body language. Applied Artificial Intelligence, 23, 123–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/08839510802631745
• Ekman, P. (1992). Are there basic emotions? Psychol. Rev. 99, 550–553. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.99.3.550
• Ekornes, S. (2022). The impact of perceived psychosocial environment and academic emotions on higher education students’ intentions to drop out. Higher Education Research & Development, 41(4), 1044-1059. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2021.1882404
• Eren, A. (2013). Prospective teachers’ perceptions of instrumentality, boredom coping strategies, and four aspects of engagement. Teaching Education, 24(3), 302-326. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210.2012.724053
• Fallis, R. K., & Opotow, S. (2003). Are students failing school or are schools failing students? Class cutting in high school. Journal of Social Issues, 59(1), 103-119. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4560.00007
• 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
• Fenichel, O. (1951). On the psychology of boredom. In D. Rapaport (Ed.), Organization and pathology of thought: Selected sources (pp. 349-361). Columbia University Press.
• Fisher, C. D. (1993). Boredom at work: A neglected concept. Human Relations, 46(3), 395-417. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872679304600305
• Fromm, E. (1973). The anatomy of human destructiveness. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
• Garcia, T., & Pintrich, P. R. (1996). Assessing students’ motivation and learning strategies in the classroom context: The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. In M. Birenbaum & F. Dochy (Eds.), Alternatives in assessment of achievements, learning processes and prior knowledge (pp. 319-339). Springer.
• Green-Demers, I., Pelletier, L. G., Stewart, D. G., & Gushue, N. R. (1998). Coping with the less interesting aspects of training: Toward a model of interest and motivation enhancement in individual sports. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 20(4), 251-261. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324834basp2004_2
• Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Pekrun, R., & Hall, N. C. (2006). The domain specificity of academic emotional experiences. The Journal of Experimental Education, 75(1), 5-29. https://doi.org/10.3200/jexe.75.1.5-29
• Hamilton, J. A., Haier, R. J., & Buchsbaum, M. S. (1984). Intrinsic enjoyment and boredom coping scales: Validation with personality, evoked potential and attention measures. Personality and Individual Differences, 5(2), 183–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(84)90050-3
• Haynes, T. L., Daniels, L. M., Stupnisky, R. H., Perry, R. P., & Hladkyj, S. (2008). The effect of attributional retraining on mastery and performance motivation among first-year college students. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 30(3), 198-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973530802374972
• Holahan, C. J., Moos, R. H., & Schaefer, J. A. (1996). Coping, stress resistance, and growth: Conceptualizing adaptive functioning. In M. Zeidner & N. S. Endler (Eds.), Handbook of coping. Theory, research, applications (pp. 24–43). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
• Koç, E., Ekşi, H. ve Demirci, İ. (2018, May). Kısa can sıkıntısı eğilimi ölçeğinin psikometrik özelliklerinin incelenmesi [Examination of the psychometric properties of the Boredom Proneness Scale Short-Form]. In 1st International Congress on Seeking New Perspectives in Education (pp. 218-219). https://toad.halileksi.net/olcek/kisa-can-sikintisi-egilimi-olcegi-2/
• Kökçam, B. (2019). Üniversite öğrencilerinde derste can sıkıntısı ile baş etme stratejilerinin çeşitli değişkenler açısından incelenmesi [The relationship between coping strategies with boredom in class of the university students and some variables] [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Marmara University.
• Larson, R., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). The experience sampling method. In Flow and the foundations of positive psychology (pp. 21-34). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9088-8_2
• Larson, R. W., & Richards, M. H. (1991). Boredom in the middle school years: Blaming schools versus blaming students. American Journal of Education, 99(4), 418-443. https://doi.org/10.1086/443992
• Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.
• Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., & Pekrun, R. (2011). Students’ emotions and academic engagement: Introduction to the special issue. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.11.004
• Malcolm, H., Wilson, V., Davidson, J., & Kirk, S. (2003). Absence from school: A study of its causes and effects in seven LEAs. The SCRE Centre University of Glasgow.
• Mann, S., & Robinson, A. (2009). Boredom in the lecture theatre: An investigation into the contributors, moderators and outcomes of boredom amongst university students. British Educational Research Journal, 35(2), 243-258. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920802042911
• McClelland, D. C. (2016). The Achieving society. Pickle Partners Publishing. (Original work published 1961)
• Moos, R. (1993). Coping responses inventory: Professional manual (2nd ed.). PAR Assessment Resources.
• Moos, R. H., & Holahan, C. J. (2003). Dispositional and contextual perspectives on coping: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 59(12), 1387-1403. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.10229
• Nett, U. E., Goetz, T., & Daniels, L. M. (2010). What to do when feeling bored? Students' strategies for coping with boredom. Learning and Individual Differences, 20(6), 626-638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.09.004
• Nett, U. E., Goetz, T., & Hall, N. C. (2011). Coping with boredom in school: An experience sampling perspective. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36(1), 49-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.10.003
• Panadero, E. (2017). A review of self-regulated learning: Six models and four directions for research. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00422
• Pekrun, R. (2011). Emotions as drivers of learning and cognitive development. In R. A. Calvo & S. K .D’Mello (Eds.), New perspectives on affect and learning technologies (pp. 23-39). Springer.
• Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Daniels, L. M., Stupnisky, R. H., & Perry, R. P. (2010). Boredom in achievement settings: Exploring control–value antecedents and performance outcomes of a neglected emotion. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(3), 531. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019243
• Pekrun, R., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (2012). Academic Emotions and Student Engagement. In S. Christenson, A. Reschly, C. Wylie (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Student Engagement, (pp.259-282). Springer.
• Robinson, W. P. (1975). Boredom at school. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 45(2), 141-152. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.1975.tb03239.x
• Rowe, A. D., Fitness, J., & Wood, L. N. (2015). University student and lecturer perceptions of positive emotions in learning. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 28(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.847506
• Schutz, P. A., & Pekrun, R. (Eds.). (2007). Introduction to emotion in education. In Emotion in education (pp. 3-10). Academic Press.
• Sharp, J. G., Hemmings, B., & Kay, R. (2016). Towards a model for the assessment of student boredom and boredom proneness in the UK higher education context. Journal of Further & Higher Education, 40(5), 649–681. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2014.1000282
• Sharp, J. G., Hemmings, B., Kay, R., Murphy, B., & Elliott, S. (2017). Academic boredom among students in higher education: A mixed-methods exploration of characteristics, contributors, and consequences. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 41, 657–677. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2016.1159292
• Struk, A. A., Carriere, J. S. A., Cheyne, J. A., & Danckert, J. (2017). A Short Boredom Proneness Scale: Development and Psychometric Properties. Assessment, 24(3), 346–359. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191115609996
• Şimşek, H., Kula, S. S., & Baltacı, Ö. (2019). Üniversite öğrencilerinin derslerdeki can sıkıntısı yaşantılarının incelemesi [Examination of University Students' Boredom Experiences in Lessons]. Inonu University Journal of the Faculty of Education, 20(1), 178-190. https://doi.org/10.17679/inuefd.422551
• Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2014). Using multivariate statistics (Sixth Edition). Pearson.
• Trassi, A. P., Leonard, S. J., Rodrigues, L. D., Rodas, J. A., & Santos, F. H. (2022). Mediating factors of statistics anxiety in university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1512(1), 76-97. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14746
• Tze, M. C. (2011). Investigating academic boredom in Canadian and Chinese students. [Unpublished Master Thesis]. University of Alberta.
• Vallerand, R. J. (2000). Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory: A View from the Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 312–318. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1449629
• Vodanovich, S. J. (2003). Psychometric measures of boredom: A review of the literature. The Journal of Psychology, 137(6), 569–595. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980309600636
• Vodanovich, S. J., & Watt, J. D. (2016). Self-report measures of boredom: an updated review of the literature. The Journal of Psychology, 150(2), 196-228. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2015.1074531
• Wang, Z. (2021, January). The Relationship Between Boredom Proneness and Recessive Truancy. In 2021 International Conference on Public Art and Human Development (ICPAHD 2021) (pp. 815-819). Atlantis Press.
• Worthington, R., & Whittaker, T. (2006). Scale development research: A content analysis and recommendations for best practices. The Counseling Psychologist, 34, 806-838. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000006288127
• Wasson, A. S. (1981). Susceptibility to boredom and deviant behavior at school. Psychological Reports, 48(3), 901-902. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1981.48.3.901