Abstract
In contrast to prevailing beliefs, recent research suggests that trait self-control promotes health behavior not because those high in self-control are more successful at resisting single temptations, but rather because they develop adaptive habits. The present paper presents a first empirical test of this novel suggestion by investigating the mediating role of habit in explaining the relation between self-control and unhealthy snacking behavior. Results showed that self-control was negatively associated with unhealthy snack consumption and unhealthy snacking habits. As hypothesized, the relation between self-control and unhealthy snack intake was mediated by habit strength. Self-control was not associated with fruit consumption or fruit consumption habits. These results provide the first evidence for the notion that high self-control may influence the formation of habits and in turn affect behavior. Moreover, results imply that self-control may be particularly influential in case of inhibiting unhealthy food intake rather than promoting healthy food intake.
Highlights
Self-control is associated with a variety of positive outcomes, including academic performance (Duckworth and Seligman, 2005), adjustment (Tangney et al, 2004), and health behavior (Hofmann et al, 2008)
Findings showed that people with high self-control encountered fewer desires that were rated by others as problematic, ruling out the possibility that people high in self-control merely fail to acknowledge the motivational conflict associated with their desires. These findings suggest that people with high self-control are more successful than people with low trait self-control at avoiding problematic desires, implying, in line with De Ridder et al (2012) that self-control may be related to the forming of adaptive routines or habits rather than the ability to control oneself in specific situations
Correlations between the key variables showed that self-control was significantly related to unhealthy snack intake (r = −0.30, p = 0.01) and unhealthy snacking habits (r = −0.26, p = 0.03), but not to fruit intake (r = 0.12, p = 0.29)3; or fruit consumption
Summary
Self-control is associated with a variety of positive outcomes, including academic performance (Duckworth and Seligman, 2005), adjustment (Tangney et al, 2004), and health behavior (Hofmann et al, 2008). Building on recent insights (De Ridder et al, 2012; Hofmann et al, 2012), we aim to investigate the mediating role of habit strength in order to gain more insight into the mechanisms by which trait self-control results in beneficial outcomes. 355) noted that many scholars “explicitly or implicitly define self-control as the effortful inhibition of impulses.”. This view of self-control as effortful is not restricted to trait self-control, but is apparent in the widely used ego-depletion paradigm, where (state) self-control is, similar to a muscle, theorized to get depleted after using it, obviously implying that exerting of self-control is effortful (Muraven and Baumeister, 2000) In a similar vein, Fujita (2011, p. 355) noted that many scholars “explicitly or implicitly define self-control as the effortful inhibition of impulses.” This view of self-control as effortful is not restricted to trait self-control, but is apparent in the widely used ego-depletion paradigm, where (state) self-control is, similar to a muscle, theorized to get depleted after using it, obviously implying that exerting of self-control is effortful (Muraven and Baumeister, 2000)
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