# Spiritual boredom is associated with over- and underchallenge, lack of value, and reduced motivation

## TL;DR

Spiritual boredom is linked to feeling over- or underchallenged, finding little value, and lower motivation in spiritual practices like yoga and meditation.

## Contribution

This study introduces and explores the concept of spiritual boredom across five spiritual contexts using a large sample and control-value theory.

## Key findings

- Spiritual boredom was positively related to feeling overchallenged in 9 out of 10 studies.
- Spiritual boredom was negatively related to perceived value and motivation for spiritual practice.
- Spiritual boredom was consistently associated with being underchallenged across all studies.

## Abstract

The emotion of boredom has attracted considerable research interest. However, boredom experienced in spiritual contexts (i.e., spiritual boredom) has rarely been investigated. Based on control-value theory (CVT), we investigated the occurrence, antecedents, and motivational effects of spiritual boredom in five different spiritual contexts: yoga, meditation, silence retreats, Catholic sermons, and pilgrimage. For each context, we conducted two independent studies, one including trait and another including state measures. The set of 10 studies included a total sample of N = 1267 adults. We complemented individual study results with an internal meta-analysis. The results showed a mean level of spiritual boredom of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$\bar{M}$$\end{document}M¯ = 1.91 on a scale of 1 to 5. In line with CVT, spiritual boredom was positively related to being overchallenged (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$\bar{r}$$\end{document}r¯ = 0.44) in 9 out of the 10 studies and positively related to being underchallenged (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$\bar{r}$$\end{document}r¯ = 0.44) in all studies. Furthermore, as expected, spiritual boredom was negatively related to perceived value in all studies (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$\bar{r}$$\end{document}r¯ = −0.54). Finally, boredom was negatively related to motivation to engage in spiritual practice (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$\bar{r}$$\end{document}r¯ = −0.46) across studies. Directions for future research and practical implications are discussed.

Across ten studies, spiritual boredom occurred at significant levels, driven by feeling over- or underchallenged and perceiving little meaning in spiritual practice. Furthermore, spiritual boredom was associated with reduced motivation for spiritual practice.