Health Regulatory Focus, Selection Optimization and Compensation Strategy and Sports Practice: A Mediational Analysis

Relationship Between Psychological Needs and Regulatory Focus Among Adults with Type 2 Diabetes

Background

Diabetes is a chronic disease. A sustained change in lifestyle is generally necessary for terms of diet and physical activity. According to Self-Determination Theory, the nature of the motivation to regulate one’s behavior is linked to the satisfaction of three psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. According to Regulatory Focus Theory, there is a promotion focus and a prevention focus. The prevention focus has been shown to have a different relationship with the satisfaction of the needs of the Self-Determination Theory between a general population and a population with health problems.

Objective

This study investigates the relationship between psychological needs and regulatory focus for people with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Methods

295 adults with T2D completed an online questionnaire measuring autonomy and perceived competence and regulatory focus.

Results

The promotion focus predicts the satisfaction of needs for autonomy and competence (β = 1.50, p < .01). The prevention focuses positively predicts the satisfaction of autonomy and competence needs (β = 2.06, p < .001).

Conclusion

These factors display different relationships between them among people with type 2 diabetes compared to the general population. Prevention focus seems to be more beneficial in the specific context of T2D than in the general population.

Understanding the dynamics of physical activity practice in the health context through Regulatory Focus and Self-Determination theories

This research aimed to associate for the first time in the literature Regulatory Focus and Self-Determination theories to understand the dynamics of physical activity practice in the health context. Two cross-sectional studies were conducted with 603 (Study 1) and 395 (Study 2) French volunteer participants aged from 18 to 69 and 19 to 71 respectively, who were healthy or concerned by a health condition. The main results of structural equation modeling analyses demonstrated that across the two studies, health promotion focus was positively associated with intrinsic motivation (.44 < β < .74, p < .001), integrated regulation (.47 < β < .72, p < .001), identified regulation (.40 < β < .69, p < .001) and introjected regulation (.41 < β < .53, p < .001), whereas health prevention focus was positively related with external regulation (.31 < β < .45, p < .001) and amotivation (.32 < β < .38, p < .001). Bootstrapping analyses main results in Study 2 showed that health promotion focus was indirectly associated with physical activity through intrinsic motivation (95% CI [.02 to .11]), integrated regulation (95% CI [.00 to .08]), identified regulation (95% CI [.00 to .09]) and introjected regulation (95% CI [.04 to .12]), whereas health prevention focus was indirectly associated with physical activity through external regulation (95% CI [.00 to .12]). These studies reveal meaningful associations between Regulatory Focus and Self-Determination theories' variables which support the relevance of associating these two models to understand the processes underlying the physical activity practice.