Beliefs about self-control

It is increasingly recognized that successful self-control is not only determined by sheer willpower, but also by people's beliefs about self-control. While early research has provided evidence that people's implicit theories can moderate their subsequent self-control performance, recent research considers the role of metacognition in self-control more comprehensively. In this review, we present an overview of recent advances in the field, emphasizing self-control beliefs and their potential impact on self-control outcomes. We also stress lay beliefs about self-control as an overlooked topic and promising avenue for future research.

Relationship Between Growth Mindset and Self-Control Amongst Chinese Primary School Students: A Longitudinal Study

Purpose

Growth mindset and self-control, both recognized as pivotal qualities with significant impacts on personal success, possess respective robust predictive power for academic achievement and broader life outcomes. However, the bidirectional relationship between them remains largely unexplored. This study aims to investigate whether growth mindset, conceptualized as the belief that abilities can be developed through effort and support, prospectively predicts the development of self-control over time. Additionally, it endeavors to explore whether self-control, a crucial positive psychological trait, exerts an influence on the fostering of growth mindset. In summary, our research focuses on elucidating the bidirectional relationship between growth mindset and self-control among Chinese primary school students.

Participants and Methods

The current research recruited a sample of 428 primary school students, aged 9-12, from China (214 females, mean age = 9.64 ± 1.21) to participate in a longitudinal study. Participants underwent two follow-up assessments of growth mindset and self-control over a six-month period.

Results

The correlation analysis revealed significant associations between growth mindset at T1 and self-control at T2, as well as between self-control at T1 and growth mindset at T2(r = 0.23 to 0.25, ps < 0.01). Cross-lagged analysis found that growth mindset at T1 positively predicted self-control at T2 (β = 0.11, p = 0.04), while self-control at T1 did not significantly predict growth mindset at T2.

Conclusion

The results suggest that growth mindset exerts a direct impact on self-control among primary school students. This finding extends the scope of research concerning growth mindset and provides important theoretical inspiration and practical guidance for educators, parents and counselling professionals in assisting students to enhance self-control.

Mind-over-body beliefs in sport and exercise: A driving force for training volume and performance, but with risks for exercise addiction

We assume that athletic success is associated with certain beliefs that on the one hand promote performance-enhancing behavior (training volume), but on the other hand can also be detrimental to health (sports addiction). These beliefs are succinctly characterized by the title of the 9-item "Mind-over-Body" scale presented here. They are the three beliefs that 1) athletic performance requires a high level of effort, 2) that willpower plays an important role in athletic success, and 3) that athletic success requires pain tolerance. A total of six web-survey-based studies with a total of 1121 participants (approximately gender parity), including individuals with different levels of athletic performance (no competition; amateur sport; regional, national, or international competition), examined the psychometric network and construct and criterion validity of the MoB scale. Exploratory graph analyses, which included the studies with the largest sample sizes, showed that the three belief components (effort, willpower, pain) form separable communities within the MoB network and that the MoB items form communities distinct from self-control and self-efficacy. Meta-analyzed correlations across all six studies showed low positive correlations with self-control and self-efficacy. In terms of criterion validity, MoB beliefs were positively correlated with training volume and exercise addiction. We discuss MoBs as "on the edge of unhealthy" and place MOBs within a framework of related but distinct concepts.

The Impact of Both Individual and Contextual Factors on the Acceptance of Personalized Dietary Advice

(1) Background: The aim of the current study is to investigate which between- and within-person factors influence the acceptance of personalized dietary advice. (2) Methods: A repeated measurements design was used in which 343 participants (M (SD) age = 48 (17.3), 49% female) filled out a baseline survey and started with nine repeated surveys. (3) Results: The results show that the acceptance of personalized dietary advice is influenced by both within-person and between-person factors. The acceptance is higher at lunch compared to breakfast and dinner, higher at home than out of home, higher at moments when individuals have a high intention to eat healthily, find weight control an important food choice motive and have a high healthy-eating self-efficacy. Moreover, the acceptance is higher when individuals do not see the eating context as a barrier and when individuals believe that personalized dietary advice has more benefits than risks. (4) Conclusions: Future behavioral interventions that use personalized dietary advice should consider the context as well as individual differences.

Adolescent Self-Control and Individual Physical and Mental Health in Adulthood: A Chinese Study

Despite its association with individual health, few studies have focused on the relationship between adolescent self-control and individual physical and mental health in adulthood. We aimed, therefore, to explore the impact of adolescent self-control on individual physical and mental health in adulthood. We employed the dataset of China Labor-Force Dynamics Surveys [CLDS] (2016). 13,389 respondents with an average age of 45.621 years are consisted in this study. The respondents were asked to report their adolescent self-control through recall. The ordered probit and the ordinary least squares (OLS) models were employed to estimate the effects of adolescent self-control on physical and mental health in adulthood, respectively. We adopted the propensity score matching (PSM) method to address the self-selection bias of samples. The results indicated that adolescent self-control significantly affected individual physical health (coefficient = 0.0126, p < 0.01) and mental health (coefficient = −0.1067, p < 0.01) in adulthood. The mechanism analysis suggested that adolescent self-control partially promoted physical and mental health in adulthood by education and income instead of self-control in adulthood. In conclusion, paying attention to the cultivation of self-control before adulthood may be an effective way to improve individual physical and mental health in adulthood.

Context matters: Self-regulation of healthy eating at different eating occasions

Self-regulation plays an important role in healthy eating behaviors. The current research explores temporary fluctuations in self-regulation next to variations between individuals. In an online observational study, 892 participants (M^age  = 44.3, SD^age  = 12.7) monitored their self-regulation three times a week before a meal moment for 3 weeks. To analyze the data, a random intercept and slopes model was used, including variables on within-individual level (i.e. meal moment, tiredness, distractedness, social, and physical environment) and variables on between-individual level (i.e. self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and perception of social and physical opportunity). Self-regulation was found to be higher at breakfast compared with dinner (estimate = -0.08, p < .001), higher at home than out-of-home (estimate = -0.08, p < .001) and lower when individuals are more tired (estimate = 0.04, p < .001) and distracted (estimate = 0.07, p < .001). Moreover, self-regulation was higher for individuals with higher levels of intrinsic motivation (estimate = 0.19, p < .001) and self-efficacy (estimate = 0.41, p < .001). Insights from this research advance our knowledge regarding temporal influences on self-regulation and can provide input for behavior change tools such as personalized dietary advice.