Academic boredom and learning engagement among university students: a serial mediation model involving mind wandering and academic procrastination

Introduction Academic boredom is common among university students and is associated with lower learning engagement. This study examined the specific and serial indirect effects of mind wandering and academic procrastination in this association. Methods Participants were 706 s- and third-year undergraduates from a normal university in western China. Academic boredom, mind wandering, academic procrastination, and learning engagement were assessed using established self-report measures. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and PROCESS Model 6 were conducted, with 5,000 bootstrap resamples used to test indirect effects. Results Academic boredom was negatively correlated with learning engagement and positively correlated with mind wandering and academic procrastination. The indirect effects through mind wandering and academic procrastination separately, as well as the serial indirect effect through mind wandering followed by academic procrastination, were significant. The serial indirect effect was −0.042, 95% CI [−0.058, −0.028], and the total indirect effect was −0.224, 95% CI [−0.268, −0.183], accounting for 53.37% of the total effect. The direct association between academic boredom and learning engagement remained significant. Discussion These findings suggest that mind wandering and academic procrastination may represent complementary cognitive and behavioral pathways linking academic boredom to lower learning engagement.