Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid Boredom proneness as a predictor of depression, anxiety and stress: The moderating effects of dispositional mindfulness Felicia K.S. Lee, Diane C. Zelman ⁎ Clinical PsyD Program, California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, Hong Kong ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Boredom proneness Boredom Dispositional mindfulness Mindfulness Moderator Depression Hong Kong China ABSTRACT Boredom is an aversive feeling of weariness, restlessness and constraint, related to both unstimulating en- vironments and individual characteristics such as inattention. The trait of boredom proneness, an individual's propensity to become bored, is associated with negative clinical and life outcomes. This study evaluated dis- positional mindfulness, a personality characteristic relating to nonjudgmental attentiveness to thoughts and feelings in the moment, as a moderator of the relationship between boredom proneness and negative emotional symptoms. Participants were 186 adult Chinese residents of Hong Kong (60.8% female, 18 to 83 years of age), who completed the Five-Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Short Boredom Proneness Scale and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale -21 (DASS-21). Pairwise correlational analyses replicated published research in North America. Moderation and conditional analyses showed that of the five FFMQ mindfulness domains, two, FFMQ Acting with Awareness and Describing, moderated the relationship between boredom proneness and DASS-21 scores. Boredom proneness predicted negative emotional symptoms only at low levels of dispositional mindfulness. Average or greater dispositional mindfulness was associated with an uncoupling of the relationship between boredom proneness and negative affect. Additional research is recommended to explore the possibility that cultivation of mindfulness may reduce the negative outcomes associated with characterological boredom proneness. 1. Introduction 1.1. Boredom, boredom proneness, and attention Boredom, defined colloquially as a state of restlessness through lack of interest (Boredom, 2016), is portrayed in various languages as a person-environment interaction between an unstimulating or restrictive circumstance and an individual's characteristic experience of con- straint, restlessness or lethargy (Martin, Sadlo, & Stew, 2006). The Chinese character for bored, “悶,” represents a heart enclosed or sitting in a doorway. In Japanese, the word bored, “退屈な,” depicts being trapped in a corner, whereas the Russian word “tocka” conveys both boredom and a sense of emptiness, yearning and an aching of the soul. A commonly referenced working definition of boredom integrates affective, existential, and attentional factors (Eastwood, Frischen, Fenske, & Smilek, 2012). Boredom is described as an aversive experi- ence and an inability to mobilize sufficient attention to engage in sa- tisfying tasks, compensatory internal states (such as daydreaming and mind-wandering), and attribution of the negative experience to the environment. The trait of boredom proneness is an extension of this concept; it is a chronic tendency to be bored, particularly in situations requiring active and sustained attention (Elpidorou, 2018). The relevance of attention to boredom proneness is supported by research showing that individuals scoring high on measures of trait boredom proneness score poorly on sustained attention tasks, find task maintenance effortful, make more errors in the performance of daily tasks, and struggle to a greater extent with academic achievement (Malkovsky, Merrifield, Goldberg, & Danckert, 2012; Wallace, Kass, & Stanny, 2002). Furthermore, individuals with both attention deficit disorder and traumatic brain injury, among whom attentional problems are common, report higher boredom proneness relative to the general public (Isacescu & Danckert, 2018; Malkovsky et al., 2012). 1.2. Dispositional mindfulness and boredom proneness as related constructs Dispositional mindfulness, also known as “trait mindfulness” (Brown, Ryan, & Creswell, 2007), is a characteristic that reflects in- dividuals' mindfulness in day-to-day life (Rau & Williams, 2016). It is https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.04.001 Received 3 October 2018; Received in revised form 28 March 2019; Accepted 1 April 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, One Beach Street, San Francisco, California 94133, United States of America. E-mail address: dzelman@alliant.edu (D.C. Zelman). Personality and Individual Differences 146 (2019) 68–75 0191-8869/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T