Abstract
People often fail at following through with their health behaviour goals. How health goals are cognitively represented holds promise for understanding successful health behaviour change. Health-related possible selves (HPS) reflect cognitive representations of a future self that people may wish to achieve (hoped-for-HPS) or avoid (feared-HPS), that can promote health behaviour change. However, success depends on the strength of the efficacy and outcome expectancies for achieving/avoiding the HPS. Personality traits linked to poor self-regulation are often not considered when assessing the potential self-regulatory functions of HPS. The current study addressed this issue by examining the associations of trait procrastination with efficacy and outcome expectancies for hoped-for-HPS and feared-HPS, and health behaviour change intentions and motivations in a community sample (N = 191) intending to make healthy changes in the next 6 months. Trait procrastination was associated with weaker intentions and motivations for health behaviour change, and lower efficacy and outcome expectancies for hoped-for-HPS, but not feared-HPS. Bootstrapped multiple mediation analysis found significant indirect effects of procrastination on health behaviour intentions, through outcome, but not efficacy, expectancies for hoped-for-HPS. Results suggest that issues in imagining a hoped-for-HPS can be achieved are linked to weak intentions for health behaviour change for those with chronic self-regulation difficulties. Research into interventions that strengthen feeling connected to hoped-for-HPS is recommended.
Highlights
Despite the best intentions, people often fail at following through with their health behaviour goals
The aim of the current study was to investigate the associations of trait procrastination to the self-regulatory processes reflected in the efficacy and outcome expectancies for hopedfor-Health-related possible selves (HPS) and feared-HPS, and how these related to intentions and motivations among individuals intending to make health behaviour changes
The health behaviour changes people listed as being most important focused predominantly on diet and exercise related. This aim of the current study was to examine the contributions of efficacy and outcome expectancies for HPS in explaining the associations of trait procrastination to intentions and motivations for making intended health behaviour changes
Summary
People often fail at following through with their health behaviour goals. Possible selves theory (Markus and Nurius 1986) posits that individuals have a repertoire of different hoped-for and feared possible selves that reflect cognitive representations of current goals and provide incentives to motivate current behaviour. In this respect, possible selves can have an implicit self-regulatory function by highlighting discrepancies between the current and future possible selves, which in turn, can motivate approach or avoidance behaviours (Markus and Nurius 1986; vanDellen and Hoyle 2008). A hoped-for possible self that is 10 pounds slimmer may motivate appropriate diet and exercise changes, and a feared possible self that has diabetes may motivate similar
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