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Boredom Prone or Nothing to Do? Distinguishing Between State and Trait Leisure Boredom and Its Association with Substance Use in South African Adolescents

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: Reducing adolescent substance use is important in South Africa, a developing nation with increasing adolescent substance use, lack of leisure/recreation opportunities, and high rates of adolescent discretionary time. Previous research suggests leisure boredom and adolescent substance use co-occur in this setting. Using longitudinal data from 2,580 South African adolescents as they progressed from the 8th to 11th grade, the current study disentangles the associations of trait and state leisure boredom with substance use, and examines how ability to restructure boring situations moderates those associations. On average, individuals with higher trait boredom used more substances, and on occasions when state boredom was high, the prototypical adolescent used more substances. Although restructuring did not moderate these associations, greater ability was associated with lower substance use independent of leisure boredom. Findings illustrated the importance of considering how trait and state aspects of leisure may contribute to adolescents’ risk behavior and addressed through preventive intervention.

Source: Leisure Sciences

DOI: 10.1080/01490400.2015.1014530

Authors: Elizabeth H. Weybright, Linda L. Caldwell, Nilam Ram, Edward A. Smith, Lisa Wegner

Institutions: Washington State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of the Western Cape

Language: English

Topic: Recreation, Leisure, Wilderness Management

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green