Who’s bored in school?: The relationships between academic boredom, general cognitive ability, and intrinsic value in math and language classes in primary school children

In the literature, general cognitive ability has been discussed as one critical factor that shapes students’ boredom. In this study, we investigated the relationship between academic boredom and general cognitive ability in primary school students while also considering intrinsic value. We analyzed data from N = 2849 third graders from 188 German classrooms. We used structural equation models with latent variables to test for whether general cognitive ability and interest showed linear as well as nonlinear relationships with students’ boredom. The results showed that the association between general cognitive ability and boredom was almost negligible after controlling for students’ achievement as well as gender, age, and family background. However, both the linear and quadratic terms for students’ intrinsic value were statistically significant, indicating that students with low and students with high interest reported more boredom in class than students with average interest. The findings are discussed in light of expectations based on control-value theory and the domain specificity and situational specificity of control and value appraisals.