Spontaneous self‑affirmation predicts more meaning and less boredom

Chronic boredom is associated with many negative psychological outcomes, including undermining perceived meaning in life. Meanwhile, emerging research suggests that spontaneous self-afrmation, that is, an inclination to self-afrm, is linked to greater well-being and bufers against psychological threats. We investigated the relationship between spontaneous self-afrmation, perceptions of meaning in life, and boredom proneness with four correlational studies. Study 1a (N=166) demonstrated that people inclined to self-afrm experience greater perceptions of meaning in life. Study 1b (N =170) confrmed that spontaneous self-afrmation is associated with lower levels of boredom proneness. Study 2a (N=214) and Study 2b (N=105) provided evidence for our central hypothesis, showing that spontaneous self-afrmation predicts lower levels of boredom proneness via greater perceptions of meaning in life. These fndings confrm that elevating meaning in life through psychological resources, like spontaneous self-afrmation, may limit boredom. Our work extends the emerging well-being benefts of spontaneous self-afrmation, by demonstrating associations with higher meaning in life and lower boredom proneness.