Oops I Did it Again: Examining Self-Licensing Effects in a Subsequent Self-Regulation Dilemma

Permissive beliefs in the context of gaming, online shopping and alcohol drinking - Systematic development of a self-report measure

BACKGROUND

The activation of permissive beliefs is a cognitive mechanism through which individuals permit themselves to engage in pleasurable, yet potentially unregulated activities. Existing measures are heterogenous, focusing either on specific behaviors or on particular licensing mechanisms. The new Permissive Beliefs Questionnaire (PBQ) seeks to integrate self-licensing mechanisms from various research domains and to be applicable to different behaviors.

METHODS

Study 1 aimed at exploring the factor structure and reduce the number of items. In study 2, we used confirmatory factor analysis and tested convergent and discriminant validity in three subsamples of individuals playing videogames (n = 489), shopping online (n = 506), and drinking alcohol (n = 511). We tested the hypothesis whether individuals who experience a self-regulatory conflict show a greater expression of permissive beliefs.

RESULTS

The final version of the PBQ consists of 12 items which represent two factors: Deserving Reward and Defensive Optimism. The PBQ exhibited robust model fit indices and internal consistencies in the three samples. Permissive beliefs were heightened among individuals intending to downregulate their gaming, shopping, or drinking behaviors as compared to individuals without this intention.

CONCLUSION

The PBQ is a valid measure of permissive beliefs for gaming, online shopping, and drinking alcohol. It serves an ecologic and psychometrically valid tool to address empirical research questions regarding the functioning of permissive beliefs. Additionally, it may be used in clinical settings to measure and raise an understanding for permissive beliefs in clients.

Why we don't eat as intended: Moderators of the short-term intention-behaviour relation in food intake

OBJECTIVES

A healthy diet is essential for preventing chronic disease and promoting overall health. Translating one's intention to eat healthy into actual behaviour has, however, proven difficult with a range of internal and contextual factors identified as driving eating behaviour.

DESIGN

We leverage Temporal Self-Regulation Theory to examine these momentary determinants' direct and moderating effects on the intention-behaviour relation with Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA).

METHODS

Eighty-seven healthy participants (mage = 24.1 years; 59 women, 28 men) reported, 5 times daily for 10 weekdays, their intentions to stick to a self-set dietary restriction goal for the next 3 hr, the goal congruency of their eating behaviour in the past 3 hr, and a range of factors potentially influencing food intake, such as stress, emotions and environmental eating cues.

RESULTS

Two-part multilevel modelling revealed that craving, availability of goal-incongruent foods, social eating cues, giving in to other temptations and weaker momentary intentions directly increased the risk and severity of goal-incongruent intake within the next 3 hr. Social cues, stress and craving further influence behaviour through altering intention implementation.

CONCLUSIONS

Results imply that people regularly fail to implement intentions for 3-hr periods and that a range of factors influences this, both directly and by disrupting intentional processes. While for some barriers, fostering strong intentions throughout the day could be beneficial, others require different strategies for dietary adherence.

Perspectives of health practitioners and adults who regained weight on predictors of relapse in weight loss maintenance behaviors: a concept mapping study

Background

Preventing people from relapsing into unhealthy habits requires insight into predictors of relapse in weight loss maintenance behaviors. We aimed to explore predictors of relapse in physical activity and dietary behavior from the perspectives of health practitioners and persons who regained weight, and identify new predictors of relapse beyond existing knowledge.

Methods

We used concept mapping to collect data, by organizing eight concept mapping sessions among health practitioners (N=39, five groups) and persons who regained weight (N=21, three groups). At the start of each session, we collected participants’ ideas on potential predictors. Subsequently, participants individually sorted these ideas by relatedness and rated them on importance. We created concept maps using principal component analysis and cluster analysis.

Results

43 predictors were identified, of which the majority belonged to the individual domain rather than the environmental domain. Although the majority of predictors were mentioned by both stakeholder groups, both groups had different opinions regarding their importance. Also, some predictors were mentioned by only one of the two stakeholder groups. Practitioners indicated change in daily structure, stress, maladaptive coping skills, habitual behavior, and lack of self-efficacy regarding weight loss maintenance as most important recurrent (mentioned in all groups) predictors. Persons who regained weight indicated lifestyle imbalance or experiencing a life event, lack of perseverance, negative emotional state, abstinence violation effect, decrease in motivation and indulgence as most important recurrent predictors.

Conclusions

For several predictors associations with relapse were shown in prior research; additionally, some new predictors were identified that have not been directly associated with relapse in weight loss maintenance behaviors. Our finding that both groups differed in opinion regarding the importance of predictors or identified different predictors, may provide an opportunity to enhance lifestyle coaching by creating more awareness of these possible discrepancies and including both points of view during coaching.

When impulsive behaviours do not equal self-control failures: the (added) value of temptation enactments

Most work on self-control and impulsivity typically assumes, more or less tacitly, that people value self-control as more important than succumbing to temptations. According to this narrative, people regard impulsive behaviours as ‘failures’ of self-control and experience negative self-evaluations such as feelings of guilt or shame in response. Here, we direct attention to a neglected but crucial meta-behavioural valuation dimension of impulsive behaviour. We posit that individual differences in people's valuation of temptation enactment (VOTE) qualify whether and to what extent impulsive behaviours trigger negative self-evaluations and whether and to what extent people feel motivated to self-improve. Using a newly constructed VOTE scale, we first show that individual differences in VOTE can be reliably measured and clearly distinguished from traditional impulsivity or self-control scales (Studies 1–3; total N = 576). Across three subsequent studies (total N = 460), we then demonstrate that high VOTE, as compared with low VOTE, reduces the link between impulsive behaviours and negative self-conscious emotions (Studies 4 and 5), as well as between past impulsive behaviour and self-improvement motivation (Study 6). These findings have implications for the discourse on self-control failure and for the link between impulsive behaviour and self-evaluation, self-improvement motivation, and well-being.

Does Self-Licensing Benefit Self-Regulation Over Time? An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Food Temptations

Self-licensing, employing reasons to justify indulgence, may help resolve the conflict between immediate temptations and long-term goals in favor of the former. It was hypothesized that this conflict-resolving potential of self-licensing may benefit self-regulation over time. With a momentary assessment design, we examined how self-licensing affects self-regulatory ability and the capacity to deal with subsequent self-regulatory conflicts. One hundred thirty-six female participants filled out surveys eight times per day for one week. Food temptation strength, conflict, resistance, and enactment were assessed, as well as license opportunity and perceived self-regulatory ability. When self-licensing opportunity was high (vs. low), a weaker association between temptation strength and conflict was observed. High license opportunity was associated with higher perceived self-regulatory ability for instances of low degrees of temptation enactment and predicted better handling of subsequent conflict after high degrees of prior temptation enactment. These results suggest that self-licensing can support self-regulation after initial failure.

Ecological momentary assessment of self-attitudes in response to dietary lapses

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether self-attitudes and self-efficacy after dietary lapses relate to lapse frequency or predict risk for lapsing again on the same day.

METHOD

Adults with overweight/obesity (n = 91) completed ecological momentary assessment for 14 days at the start of a lifestyle modification program. At each survey, participants reported whether they had experienced a dietary lapse, and, if so, reported their self-attitudes (i.e., self-criticism, self-forgiveness, self-regard) and self-efficacy. The relationships between participants' typical (i.e., average level for each participant across lapses) self-attitudes/self-efficacy after lapsing and lapse frequency were examined using correlations. Generalized estimating equations examined whether participants' typical (average across lapses; between-person effect) self-attitudes/self-efficacy or momentary (i.e., level of each variable at a particular lapse relative to one's typical level; within-person effect) self-attitudes/self-efficacy predicted same-day lapse occurrence.

RESULTS

Lower typical self-efficacy and more negative typical self-regard related to greater lapse frequency. Additionally, lower momentary self-criticism predicted greater likelihood of same-day lapse occurrence. There also was a quadratic relationship between typical self-regard and risk of same-day lapse occurrence, such that individuals with either more negative or more positive typical self-regard were more likely to lapse on the same day.

CONCLUSION

Findings provide preliminary support for the relevance of self-attitudes and self-efficacy to lapses during early lifestyle modification. While greater typical self-efficacy and more positive typical self-regard are associated with fewer lapses, lower momentary self-criticism and very positive or negative typical self-regard may confer risk for same-day lapses. (PsycINFO Database Record

Using a mobile health application to reduce alcohol consumption: a mixed-methods evaluation of the drinkaware track & calculate units application

Background

Smartphone applications (“apps”) offer promise as tools to help people monitor and reduce their alcohol consumption. To date, few evaluations of alcohol reduction apps exist, with even fewer considering apps already available to the public. The aim of this study was to evaluate an existing publically available app, designed by Drinkaware, a UK-based alcohol awareness charity.

Methods

We adopted a mixed-methods design, analysing routinely collected app usage data to explore user characteristics and patterns of usage. Following this, in-depth interviews were conducted with a sub-sample of app users to examine perceptions of acceptability, usability and perceived effectiveness, as well as to provide recommendations on how to improve the app.

Results

One hundred nineteen thousand seven hundred thirteen people downloaded and entered data into the app over a 13-month period. High attrition was observed after 1 week. Users who engaged with the app tended to be “high risk” drinkers and to report being motivated “to reduce drinking” at the point of first download. In those who consistently engaged with the app over time, self-reported alcohol consumption levels reduced, with most change occurring in the first week of usage. Our qualitative findings indicate satisfaction with the usability of the app, but mixed feedback was given regarding individual features. Users expressed conflicting views concerning the type of feedback and notifications that the app currently provides. A common preference was expressed for more personalised content.

Conclusions

The Drinkaware app is a useful tool to support behaviour change in individuals who are already motivated and committed to reducing their alcohol consumption. The Drinkaware app would benefit from greater personalisation and tailoring to promote longer term use. This evaluation provides insight into the usability and acceptability of various app features and contains a number of recommendations for improving user satisfaction and the potential effectiveness of apps designed to encourage reductions in alcohol consumption.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4358-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.