Evaluating the Context-Dependent View of How and Why Ph.D. Students Experience Boredom during Their Studies

Maintaining mental health during study time is crucial for students, particularly those enrolled in the Ph.D. program. Boredom as one type of mental health problems is occasionally regarded as inconsequential, but in fact has a significant impact on Ph.D. students and the effectiveness of their study. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the contextdependent view of how and why Ph.D. students experience boredom during their studies from three frameworks of context: institutional, emotional, and situational. A survey study was conducted involving 23 Ph.D. students registered at three state Indonesian universities offering English Language Education Doctoral Program in the country. The data were collected through a questionnaire containing both open-ended and closed-ended questions referring to the three contexts of boredom. The collected data were then coded based on these three contexts. The results show that 60.9% of the participants experienced intermediate, 21.7% experienced low, and only 17.4% experienced high levels of boredom with the emotional aspect being the highest reason. Additionally, a small number of participants indicated in the open-ended responses that they did not experience boredom at all. In light of the findings, this study underscores the importance of continuing to support and maintain the favourable conditions experienced by Ph.D. students in the country.