On cooperative libertines and wicked puritans

We agree with Fitouchi et al. that self-denial is sometimes moralized to signal capacity for cooperation, but propose that a person's cooperative character is more precisely judged by willingness to follow cultural, group, and interpersonal goals, for which many rules can serve as proxies, including rules about abstention. But asceticism is not a moral signal if its aims are destructive, while indulging impulses in a culturally approved way can also signal cooperation.

Intimate Partner Violence Survivors' Daily Experiences of Social Disconnection, Substance Use, and Sex with Secondary Partners

Women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) are disproportionately likely to engage in sexual risk behavior, including sex with a secondary partner (i.e., sex partners outside their primary relationship). Social disconnection has been identified as a social determinant of health that may enhance understanding of sex with a secondary partner. This study extends past research by using an intensive longitudinal design consisting of multiple daily assessments to examine event-level associations between women IPV survivors' social disconnection and sex with a secondary partner concurrently (i.e., during the same aggregated assessment) and temporally (i.e., social disconnection during one assessment predicting sex with a secondary partner in a subsequent assessment) over a 14-day period, in consideration of physical, psychological, and sexual IPV, and alcohol and drug use. Participants (N = 244) were recruited from New England through 2017. Results from multilevel logistic regression models indicate that women who experienced greater social disconnection on average were more likely to report sex with a secondary partner. However, after including IPV and substance use in the model, the strength of this relationship was attenuated. Sexual IPV emerged as a between-person predictor of sex with a secondary partner in temporally lagged models. Results provide insight into the relationships between daily social disconnection and sex with a secondary partner among IPV survivors, particularly regarding the effects of substance use and IPV both concurrently and temporally. Taken together, findings emphasize the importance of social connection for women's well-being and highlight the need for interventions that enhance interpersonal connectedness.

Self-Control and Crime: Beyond Gottfredson and Hirschi's Theory

Over the past several decades, Gottfredson & Hirschi's (1990) SCT has dominated research on self-control and crime. In this review, I assess the current state of self-control knowledge and encourage the field to move beyond SCT, as its peculiar conceptualization of self-control and causal model presents challenges for integrative scholarship. Drawing heavily on scholarship outside criminology, I clarify the definition of self-control; describe the malleable nature of trait self-control; highlight its situational variability as state self-control; and consider the multiplicity of contextual, situational, and individual factors that affect its operation in relation to crime. This specification of contingencies and the interplay between impulse strength and control efforts in the process of self-control is intended as a springboard for research moving beyond SCT and its key premise that self-control ability is sufficient for explanation. Finally, I address what I see as important areas for further study in light of current knowledge.

Elderly pedestrians' self-regulation failures and crash involvement: The development of typologies

The present study aims to identify, study, and develop typologies based on cases of elderly pedestrian collisions with vehicles where the pedestrians subjectively ascribe the collision at least in part to their own self-regulation failures. Semistructured interview surveys were conducted with 18 elderly people who had experienced a crash with a vehicle as a pedestrian aged 65 years or older. Personal construct theory is adopted as the theoretical underpinning, and it is assumed that pedestrians have their own subjective ways of making sense of the crashes they are involved in. It was found that 11 of the 18 participants ascribed the crashes at least in part to their own self-regulation failures. Cognitive maps of the 11 participants had a common structure, and the associated 11 incidents were classified with respect to the following dimensions: (a) self-regulation type, (b) self-regulation motivation, (c) cause of self-regulation failure, and (d) characteristics of the collisions that occurred after the self-regulation failure. Based on these findings, practical implications are found, and corresponding interventions that may reduce elderly pedestrian-vehicle crashes of this type are discussed. Specifically, this study demonstrates the necessity of education or other intervention that goes beyond informing elderly pedestrians of what is right and wrong in traffic environments. Another critical result-the need to motivate elderly pedestrians to respect and adhere to their own highly personal self-regulation, even if it is not against the social norms-is also presented and discussed.

"We Don't Really Do Anything Unless it's Really Bad": Understanding Adolescent Sun Protective Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors in the U.S

Risk factors for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, include lifetime sun exposure and a history of sunburns. However, a minority of adolescents report consistent engagement in sun protective behaviors. The few sun protection interventions that have targeted adolescents have had little effect on behavior change, which suggests that a better understanding of the issue, especially from the adolescents' perspective, is needed. Although efforts to qualitatively examine adolescent sun protection have been carried out in a handful of countries, no studies to date have focused on U.S. adolescents. We conducted focus groups with 44 6th-8th grade students in Colorado to explore their sun protection knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. Results supported previous findings that adolescents do not engage in regular skin protection but have experienced the negative consequences of sun exposure (e.g., severe sun burns, and blistering). In addition, participants demonstrated limited and sometimes inaccurate knowledge about the long-term risks of sun exposure, as well as effective methods of sun protection. Barriers to engaging in sun protective behaviors included a desire to tan, inconvenience, and physical discomfort. Facilitators included peer and family encouragement, previous experience with sunburns and/or skin cancer, and knowledge of potential consequences. These findings provide valuable insights that can inform future intervention and research related to sun protection among U.S. adolescents.

Social Disconnection as a Pathway to Sexual Risk Behavior Among Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization is a strong predictor of women's sexual risk behavior. Social disconnection may be central to understanding this association. In a sample of 204 IPV victims, we (a) evaluated the extent to which social disconnection underlies the association between IPV severity and sexual risk behavior, and (b) tested the idea that the association between social disconnection and sexual risk behavior is stronger among women without alternative means to social connection (i.e., lack close friendships). The indirect effect of physical and sexual IPV, respectively, on sexual risk behavior via social disconnection was significant. The number of close friends women had moderated the association between social disconnection and sexual risk behavior, such that having multiple close friendships buffered the effects of social disconnection.

Early psychosocial deprivation and adolescent risk-taking: The role of motivation and executive control

Risk-taking in adolescence has been often associated with early life adversities. However, the impact of such macrolevel factors on risk behavior has been rarely studied in humans. To address these gaps we recruited a sample of young adolescents who were part of a randomized control trial of foster care. Children institutionalized at or soon after birth were randomly assigned either to be removed from institutions and placed into a family or foster care intervention or to remain in institutions receiving care as usual. These children were subsequently followed up through 12 years of age and compared with a sample of children who had never been institutionalized. Using this sample, we examined the impact of early childhood deprivation on risk-taking behavior and explored the role of motivation (i.e., sensation seeking) and executive control (i.e., planning). Early psychosocial deprivation decreased engagement in risk-taking among young adolescents by reducing sensation seeking, a motivation often associated with risk-taking in adolescence. The impact of early psychosocial deprivation on sensation seeking and consequently on engagement in risk-taking was further reduced by its deleterious effects on executive control. These findings challenge the traditional view according to which risk behavior is a maladaptive response to adversities and suggest that it may represent adolescents' attempts to fulfill important motivations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Another look at impulsivity: Could impulsive behavior be strategic?

In the present article, we propose that impulsive behavior may be a response to certain needs or goals that people have in the moment and could therefore be strategic. We review briefly the dominant approaches and findings in the impulsivity literature. We then examine different behaviors that are typically considered impulsive such as delay discounting, risky sexual behavior, risk taking in the context of emotion dysregulation, and adolescent risk behavior and present evidence suggesting that they follow the general principles of goal pursuit. Specifically, they are (a) enacted when perceived as relevant to the individual's motivation; (b) less likely when alternative means to fulfill these goals are available; and (c) supported rather than reduced by sufficient executive control, a hallmark of goal pursuit. We do not argue that there is no impulsive behavior. Rather, we suggest that such behavior may represent individuals' attempts to fulfill current motivations or needs. This approach emphasizes the functionality and dynamism of the behavior, it provides a framework to explain the inconsistencies in the literature, it helps us to move away from pathologizing or moralizing the behavior, and it provides insights about potential strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of acting impulsively.

Chronic peer victimization heightens neural sensitivity to risk taking

Although behavioral and experimental studies have shown links between victimization and antisocial behavior, the neural correlates explaining this link are relatively unknown. In the current study, we recruited adolescent girls from a longitudinal study that tracked youths' reports of peer victimization experiences annually from the second through eighth grades. Based on these reports, 46 adolescents were recruited: 25 chronically victimized and 21 nonvictimized. During a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan, participants completed a risk-taking task. Chronic peer victimization was associated with greater risk-taking behavior during the task and higher levels of self-reported antisocial behavior in everyday life. At the neural level, chronically victimized girls showed greater activation in regions involved in affective sensitivity, social cognition, and cognitive control, which significantly mediated victimization group differences in self-reported antisocial behavior.

Heavy Drinking in University Students With and Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Contributions of Drinking Motives and Protective Behavioral Strategies

This study examined rates of heavy drinking and alcohol problems in relation to drinking motives and protective behavioral strategies in university students with a documented current diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 31) compared with students with no history of ADHD (n = 146). Participants completed a Web-based questionnaire, and logistic regression models tested interactions between ADHD/comparison group membership and motives and protective strategies. Group differences in rates of heavy drinking and alcohol problems were not statistically significant, but medium-sized risk ratios showed that students without ADHD reported heavy drinking at a rate 1.44 times higher than students with ADHD and met screening criteria for problematic alcohol use at a rate of 1.54 times higher than students with ADHD. Other key findings were, first, that drinking to enhance positive affect (e.g., drinking because it is exciting), but not to cope with negative affect (e.g., drinking to forget your worries), predicted both heavy drinking and alcohol problems. Second, only protective behavioral strategies that emphasize alcohol avoidance predicted both heavy drinking and alcohol problems. Contrary to expectations, we found no ADHD-related moderation of effects of motives or protective strategies on our alcohol outcomes. Results of this study are limited by the small sample of students with ADHD but highlight tentative similarities and differences in effects of motives and strategies on drinking behaviors and alcohol problems reported by students with and without ADHD.

Toward a Personalized Science of Emotion Regulation

The ability to successfully regulate emotion plays a key role in healthy development and the maintenance of psychological well-being. Although great strides have been made in understanding the nature of regulatory processes and the consequences of deploying them, a comprehensive understanding of emotion regulation that can specify what strategies are most beneficial for a given person in a given situation is still a far-off goal. In this review, we argue that moving toward this goal represents a central challenge for the future of the field. As an initial step, we propose a concrete framework that (i) explicitly considers emotion regulation as an interaction of person, situation, and strategy, (ii) assumes that regulatory effects vary according to these factors, and (iii) sets as a primary scientific goal the identification of person-, situation-, and strategy-based contingencies for successful emotion regulation. Guided by this framework, we review current questions facing the field, discuss examples of contextual variation in emotion regulation success, and offer practical suggestions for continued progress in this area.

Perceived morningness-eveningness predicts academic adjustment and substance use across university, but social jetlag is not to blame

Past research has consistently found that evening-types typically report poorer academic adjustment and higher levels of substance use compared to morning-types. An important development within the morningness-eveningness and psychosocial adjustment literature has been the hypothesis that social jetlag (i.e. the asynchrony between an individual's "biological" and "social" clocks) is one factor that may explain why evening-types are at a greater risk for negative psychosocial adjustment. Yet, only a handful of studies have assessed social jetlag. Furthermore, the few studies that have assessed social jetlag have done so only with concurrent data, and thus have not been able to determine the direction of effects among morningness-eveningness, social jetlag and psychosocial adjustment. To address this important gap in the literature, the present 3-year longitudinal study employed the use of a cross-lagged auto-regressive model to specifically examine the predictive role of perceived morningness-eveningness and social jetlag on two important indices of psychosocial adjustment among university students: academic adjustment and substance use. We also assessed whether there would be an indirect effect between perceived morningness-eveningness and psychosocial adjustment through social jetlag. Participants were 942 (71.5% female; M = 19 years, SD = 0.90) undergraduates at a mid-sized university in Southern Ontario, Canada, who completed a survey at three assessments, each one year apart, beginning in first-year university. Measures were demographics (age, gender and parental education), sleep problems, perceived morningness-eveningness, social jetlag, academic adjustment and substance use. As hypothesized, results of path analyses indicated that a greater perceived eveningness preference significantly predicted higher social jetlag, poorer academic adjustment and higher substance use over time. In contrast, we found no support for social jetlag as a predictor of academic adjustment and substance use, indicating that social jetlag did not explain the link between perceived morningness-eveningness and negative psychosocial adjustment. An important finding was the significant predictive effect of higher substance use on social jetlag over time. Results of the present study highlight the importance of employing a longitudinal framework within which to specifically determine the direction of effects among the study variables in order to validate proposed theoretical models that aim to guide our understanding of how perceived morningness-eveningness, social jetlag, academic adjustment and substance use relate to each other.

When the End Justifies the Means

We explore the possibility that self-defeating behaviors represent self-regulatory success rather than failure. Specifically, we suggest that drug use, overeating, risky sexual behavior, self-harm, and martyrdom represent means toward individuals’ goals. In this capacity, they may be initiated and pursued upon goal activation despite potentially negative consequences, and thus exemplify the long-held notion that the end justifies the means. We propose a means-end analysis, present evidence that these activities demonstrate the hallmarks of goal pursuit, and discuss novel implications for understanding these behaviors.

Uses of self-regulation to facilitate and restrain addictive behavior

We apply self-regulation theory to understand addictive behavior. Self-regulation and volition depend on a limited resource, and when that resource has been depleted, self-regulation becomes prone to fail. Moving beyond traditional models that have emphasized the relevance of self-regulation to quitting addiction, we propose that self-regulation is used both to facilitate and resist addictive behaviors. Self-regulation is often needed to overcome initial aversion to drugs and alcohol, as well as to maintain addictive usage patterns despite situational obstacles (e.g., illegality, erratic availability, family disapproval). Sustaining addiction also requires preventing use from spiraling out of control and interfering with other aspects of life. More generally, the automaticity and irresistibility of addictive responses may have been overrated, as indicated by how addictive behaviors respond rationally to incentives and other concerns. Self-regulation does facilitate quitting, and relapse may be especially likely when self-regulatory capabilities are depleted.

Always gamble on an empty stomach: hunger is associated with advantageous decision making

Three experimental studies examined the counterintuitive hypothesis that hunger improves strategic decision making, arguing that people in a hot state are better able to make favorable decisions involving uncertain outcomes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that participants with more hunger or greater appetite made more advantageous choices in the Iowa Gambling Task compared to sated participants or participants with a smaller appetite. Study 3 revealed that hungry participants were better able to appreciate future big rewards in a delay discounting task; and that, in spite of their perception of increased rewarding value of both food and monetary objects, hungry participants were not more inclined to take risks to get the object of their desire. Together, these studies for the first time provide evidence that hot states improve decision making under uncertain conditions, challenging the conventional conception of the detrimental role of impulsivity in decision making.

Short- and Long-Term Self-Regulation and Sexual Risk-Taking Behaviors in Unmarried Heterosexual Young Adults

The goal of this study was to explore associations between short- and long-term self-regulation and dimensions of oral and coital sexual risk-taking in emerging adulthood. A total of 287 unmarried heterosexual young adults ages 18 to 26 years (62% female; 87% European American; 81% enrolled in college) provided study data via Internet surveys. High levels of long-term self-regulation predicted later initiation of oral sex and coitus, fewer lifetime coital partners, increased likelihood of condom and other contraceptive use at last intercourse, and low composite levels of coital risk. High levels of short-term self-regulation predicted reduced likelihood of condom use and high overall coital risk. The discussion focuses on the interpretation of these effects and potential directions for future research.

“Because I Am Worth It”

Self-regulation failure is often explained as being overwhelmed by impulse. The present article proposes a novel pathway, presenting a theoretical framework and empirical review of a justification-based account of self-regulation failure. With justification we refer to making excuses for one’s discrepant behavior, so that when experiencing a self-regulation dilemma between immediate impulses and long-term intentions, people resolve the conflict by developing and employing justifications that allow violations of the goal they endorse. Accordingly, rather than inhibiting motivations from the impulsive system, the reflective system can also facilitate them, leading to self-regulation failure. We bring together empirical evidence from various domains demonstrating that justifications can instigate self-regulation failure and rule out alternative accounts. Having established that justification processes contribute to self-regulation failure, we then propose several mechanisms that may fuel the effect. Finally, routes for future research and the conceptual and practical implications of these novel insights for self-regulation are discussed.

Current Trends in Moral Research

In this article, we identify five disparate themes that guide the processing of ethical judgment and behavior on the basis of current research drawn from multiple disciplinary fields. We then suggest directions for integrative research that consider ethical judgment and behavior as emergent outcomes of dynamic processing systems.

Dieting and the self-control of eating in everyday environments: an experience sampling study

OBJECTIVE

The literature on dieting has sparked several debates over how restrained eaters differ from unrestrained eaters in their self-regulation of healthy and unhealthy food desires and what distinguishes successful from unsuccessful dieters. We addressed these debates using a four-component model of self-control that was tested using ecological momentary assessment, long-term weight change, and a laboratory measure of inhibitory control.

DESIGN

A large sample of adults varying in dietary restraint and inhibitory control (as measured by a Stroop task) were equipped with smartphones for a week. They were beeped on random occasions and provided information on their experience and control of healthy and unhealthy food desires in everyday environments.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The main outcome measures were desire strength, experienced conflict, resistance, enactment of desire, and weight change after a 4-month follow-up.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Dietary restraint was unrelated to desire frequency and strength, but associated with higher conflict experiences and motivation to use self-control with regard to food desires. Most importantly, relationships between dietary restraint and resistance, enactment of desire, and long-term weight change were moderated by inhibitory control: Compared with dieters low in response inhibition, dieters high in response inhibition were more likely to attempt to resist food desires, not consume desired food (especially unhealthy food), and objectively lost more weight over the ensuing 4 months. These results highlight the combinatory effects of aspects of the self-control process in dieters and highlight the value in linking theoretical process frameworks, experience sampling, and laboratory-based assessment in health science.

STATEMENT OF CONTRIBUTION

What is already known on this subject? Dieting is a multifaceted process that can be viewed from the lens of self-control. Dietary restraint measures can be used to capture dieting status, but it is relatively unclear what differentiates successful from unsuccessful dieters (e.g., differences in desire frequency, desire strength, motivation, executive functions). What does this study add? A novel four-step conceptual model of self-control is applied to eating behaviour in everyday life. This model allows a fine-grained look at the self-control process in restrained eaters (dieters) as compared to non-dieters. Dieters and non-dieters do not differ in desire frequency and strength (they are not simply more tempted). Dieters high (as compared to low) in inhibitory control are more likely to engage in self-control. Dieters high (as compared to low) in inhibitory control are more likely to resist unhealthy food desires. Dieters high (as compared to low) in inhibitory control are more likely to loose weight over a 4-month period. Together, the study shows clear differences among successful and unsuccessful dieters that can be linked to differences in executive functioning (inhibitory control). The present article is one of the first studies combining a conceptual model with smartphone experience sampling to study weight control and thus paradigmatic from a methodological perspective.