Diagnosing boredom, confusion, and adaptation in school children.

An instrument was developed to determine if middle-school children could be diagnosed as being in a bored, confused, or adaptive state of mind. Boredom and confusion were viewed as maladaptive states. Reliability was demonstrated for the boredom, confusion, and adaptation subscales. Indications of validity were obtained for the three subscales. Boredom, confusion, and adaptation subscale scores were correlated with standardized achievement test scores and with teacher grades in academic subject areas for 136 sixth and seventh grade students. Confusion scores correlated significantly and negatively with eight of nine standardized achievement test scores, and with two of four teacher grades in academic subject areas. All correlations obtained were in the expected directions. Implications for interventions, especially in the diagnosis of confusion, are discussed.