Objective:
To explore the development and interactive correlations between boredom proneness, smoking and drinking behavior.
Methods:
A total of 416 adolescents from one senior high school and one college in the Inner Monggol Autonomous Region were recruited to complete the short version boredom proneness scale, as well as smoking and drinking behavior scale at baseline and in the 12 month follow up.
Results:
There were significant and positive correlation between boredom proneness and smoking and drinking behavior at both cross sectional levels (T1 r =0.30, 0.34, T2 r =0.24, 0.45, P <0.01). Significant autoregressive coefficients were observed for boredom proneness, smoking and drinking behavior in adolescents ( β=0.53, 0.61, 0.45, P < 0.01). Moreover, the cross lagged analyses revealed that the relationship between bordom proneness and smoking behavior was unilaterally influencing ( β=0.12, P<0.01; β=0.03, P >0.05), the relationship between bordom proneness and drinking behavior was bidirectional over the 12 months ( β=0.21, 0.09, P <0.05).
Conclusion
Boredom proneness of adolescents is closely related to smoking and drinking behavior, boredom proneness can positively predict smoking and drinking behavior, and drinking behavior can positively predict boredom proneness.