Adolescents' fire-setting awareness under boredom: relation to personality variables

The present study assessed whether or not there is a relation between fire-setting and boredom. 56 Swedish secondary-school students, 28 adolescent boys and 28 adolescent girls, were randomly assigned to a Control group and an Experimental [Boredom] group divided equally by sex. Participants were required to complete a projective test, a short story the content of which depicted a bored individual fingering a box of matches or lighter and with a bus ticket in his pocket. The Experimental [Boredom] group completed a 15-min. "boredom" test before anticipating the fictional narrative, while the Control group participated in relaxing activities. Two mutually independent judges evaluated the written stories from three standpoints: the number of fictitious fires, the relation to fire, and the boredom in the written stories. The results indicated a significant difference between the Experimental [Boredom] group and the Control group concerning relation to fire.