Investigating the relationships between boredom proneness, paranoia, and self-consciousness

Abstract

The relationships among boredom proneness, paranoia, and self-consciousness were examined in the present study. Undergraduate students from a Midwestern university ( N=107) completed the Boredom Proneness Scale, the Paranoia Scale, and the Self-Consciousness Scale. Pearson correlation coefficients revealed that paranoia was significantly related to boredom proneness, public self-consciousness, private self-consciousness and self-reflectiveness. Due to the magnitude of the correlation coefficients between paranoia and boredom proneness, public self-consciousness, private self-consciousness and self-reflectiveness, a stepwise hierarchical regression analysis was performed to determine which construct was the strongest predictor of paranoia. The results of the stepwise analysis indicated that boredom proneness was the strongest overall predictor of paranoia. Additionally, boredom proneness significantly correlated with private self-consciousness, and self-reflectiveness, but not general self-consciousness nor public self-consciousness. Independent t-tests revealed that male participants had significantly higher paranoia and boredom proneness means than the female participants.