Effect of self-control on health promotion behavior in patients with coronary heart disease: mediating effect of ego-depletion

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study used a cross-sectional survey design to explore the role of ego-depletion in the relationship between self-control and health-promoting behaviors in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). This study recruited 277 patients with CHD to measure the levels of ego-depletion, self-control and health-promotion (HP) behavior using Self-Regulatory Fatigue Scale (SRF-s), Dual-Mode of Self-Control Scale (DMSD-s) and Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II) to examine the relationship between the three. Study found that self-control improved the patients’ HP behaviors to some extent. Self-control in patients with CHD uses ego-depletion as the mediating variable to indirectly and positively predict the level of HP behavior, and the mediating effects account for 47.76% (impulsive system) and 15.6% (control system) of the total effects, respectively.