Changes In Self-regulation Research Articles

Mediators of relations of obesity treatment-associated changes in mood and weight: extending cross-sectional research.

Significant cross-sectional associations between mood and weight have been made in women; however, data on associated longitudinal effects and their psychological and behavioral mechanisms are required to inform obesity treatments that mostly have limited success beyond the very short term. Women participating in behavioral obesity treatments were assessed on psychological and behavioral measures, and weight change over 12 months. A treatment focused on physical activity and self-regulation (n = 67) had significantly better improvements than a treatment centered around weight-loss education (n = 64) on measures of mood (overall mood, depression, anxiety), self-regulation, emotional eating, eating behaviors, physical activity, and weight in women with obesity. Incorporating a lagged variable design, 12-month weight loss was significantly predicted (separately) by changes in overall negative mood, depression, and anxiety. When changes in measures of self-regulation, emotional eating, and eating behaviors were sequentially entered as mediators, mood change-weight change relationships were rendered non-significant. Significant mediation paths were: mood change→self-regulation change→weight change, and mood change→self-regulation change→eating behavior change→weight change. They were unaffected by the treatment group. Findings contributed to both theory and obesity intervention architectures via a design sensitive to the dynamic psychological and behavioral changes occurring within weight-loss processes.

중년기 여성을 위한 회복탄력성 향상 코칭프로그램의 효과성 연구

The purpose of this study is to verify the effectiveness of the application of coaching programs in order to improve the resilience of middle-aged women in their 40s and 50s. In this study, coaching programs were selected and applied through interviews with experts to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of applying coaching programs that improve the resilience of middle-aged women. In order to achieve the goal of the program research, 19 people were assigned to the experimental group and the control group, and a total of 12 coaching programs were conducted once a week for 120 minutes. Furthermore, to verify the effectiveness of the program, we analyzed the results of the pre-post/post/post survey of the experimental and control groups. The subjects of the study were middle-aged women in their 40s and 50s who participated in a coaching program by the Lifelong Education Center in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province for 12 weeks from June 25, 2019 to December 3, 2019. After the coaching program was conducted for verification, pre-post/post/post t-tests were conducted on resilience. Statistical processing was analyzed using SPSSWIN 21.0. The analysis of resilience was conducted in three sub-regions: self-regulation, interpersonal skills, and positivity. Studies have shown that coaching programs have statistically significant changes in self-regulation and interpersonal skills, which are sub-factors of resilience in middle-aged women. However, in the case of fairness, there have been statistically significant changes in ‘self-optimality’ and ‘audit’ except for ‘life satisfaction’. Therefore, based on the ACTIVE coaching dialogue model, this program is expected to help improve the resilience of middle-aged women. This program is also meaningful in providing basic data for developing and researching coaching programs.

Age Predicts Older Adults’ Driving Self-Regulation but Not Dangerous Driving Behaviors after Controlling for Executive Function

Objectives: The aim of the study was to examine the unique contributions of age to objectively measure driving frequency and dangerous driving behaviors in healthy older adults after adjusting for executive function (EF). Method: A total of 28 community-dwelling older adults (mean age = 82.0 years, standard deviation [SD] = 7.5) without dementia who were in good physical health and enrolled in a longitudinal aging study completed several EF and clinical self-report measures at baseline. Participants subsequently had a sensor installed in their vehicle for a mean of 208 (SD = 38, range = 127–257) days. Results: Participants drove for an average of 54 min per day. Mixed-effects models indicated that after controlling for EF, older age was associated with less time driving per day, decreased number of trips, and less nighttime driving. Age was not associated with hard brakes or hard accelerations. Discussion: After accounting for EF, greater age is associated with higher driving self-regulation but not dangerous driving behaviors in healthy older adults. Future studies should recruit larger samples and collect sensor-measured driving data over a more extended time frame to better determine how and why these self-regulation changes take place.

The effect of time pressure on metacognitive control: developmental changes in self-regulation and efficiency during learning

The effect of time pressure on metacognitive control is of theoretical and empirical relevance and is likely to allow us to tap into developmental differences in performances which do not become apparent otherwise, as previous studies suggest. In the present study, we investigated the effect of time pressure on metacognitive control in three age groups (10-year-olds, 14-year-olds, and adults, n = 183). Using an established study time allocation paradigm, participants had to study two different sets of picture pairs, in an untimed and a timed condition. The results showed that metacognitive self-regulation of study time (monitor-based study time allocation) differed between age groups when studying under time pressure. Even though metacognitive control is firmly coupled at 10 years of age, the overall level of self-regulation of adults was higher than that of children and adolescents across both study time conditions. This suggests that adults might have been more sensitive to experiential metacognitive cues such as JoL for the control of study time. Moreover, the timed condition was found to be more effective than the untimed, with regard to study time allocation. Also, there was an age effect, with adults being more efficient than 10- and 14-year-olds.

Understanding changes in eating behavior during the transition to university from a self-determination theory perspective: a systematic review

Objective: The objective of this systematic review was to understand how and why eating behavior changes during the transition to university, and interpret findings from a self-determination theory perspective (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Methods: We searched six databases and identified 51 articles with findings involving changes in eating behavior during the transition to university. Results: During this transition, students eat less food, less healthy, and less regularly. These changes are mostly among students who move into a university residence or off-campus housing, with few changes in eating behavior among students who continue living at home. Yet, incoming students with food skills and experience living independently seem less likely to experience these changes. Conclusions: The university context offers challenges to eating healthy. Students’ satisfaction of psychological needs may explain observed changes in habits, self-regulation, and motivation.

Educator Beliefs Around Supporting Early Self-Regulation: Development and Evaluation of the Self-Regulation Knowledge, Attitudes and Self-Efficacy Scale

The current study sought to investigate the extent to which early childhood educators’ confidence in knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy for supporting early self-regulation predicted educator behavior and children’s self-regulation outcomes. Data from a diverse sample of 165 early childhood educators participating in a cluster Randomized Control Trial evaluation of a self-regulation intervention were utilized to evaluate the construct validity, reliability and predictive properties of the Self-Regulation Knowledge, Attitudes and Self-Efficacy scale. Evaluation via traditional (EFA, Cronbach’s Alpha) and modern approaches (Rasch Analysis) yielded a valid and reliable 25-item scale, comprising three distinct yet related subscales (i.e., confidence in knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy). For educators assigned to the intervention group, self-efficacy significantly predicted educators perceived competency to implement the self-regulation intervention as well as their perceptions around the effectiveness of the intervention to enhance children’s self-regulation. For educators assigned to the control group (i.e., practice as usual), educator attitudes longitudinally predicted children’s end-of-year status and change in self-regulation (over 6 months later). Findings from this study suggest the importance of pre-school educators’ beliefs for fostering early self-regulation and highlight a need to further explore the impact of these beliefs with regard to educator engagement with intervention.

ФИЛОСОФСКО-ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ОСНОВЫ ТЕОРИИ САМОРЕГУЛЯЦИИ

The article is devoted to the study of the interdisciplinary phenomenon of self-regulation. Within the framework of this topic, various approaches to understanding the process of self-regulation proposed by domestic and foreign researchers are considered. A review of the key concept of the leading Russian expert in the field of psychology of self-regulation of personality V. I. Morosanova and her questionnaire “style of self-regulation of behavior”, used to assess the degree of development of self-regulation processes and measures of formation of strategic structures of individual self-consciousness. Based on socio-philosophical analysis, it is shown that the level of self-regulation changes significantly in different periods of life: from low and rapidly growing in childhood, continuing high and stable in middle age, and ending with a slow decline after 30 years. The characteristic reasons for reducing or increasing the level of self-regulation in people of different ages were revealed. Described wide range of adjustment procedures samoregulyatsii low ability individuals, including methods that do not require special training - situational (switch, self-hypnosis), recitative (active neuromuscular relaxation and ideomotor training), system (introspection, self-analysis) and more complex, requiring a monitoring specialista method of biofeedback, meditation, autogenic training.

Relationships Between Learned Self-Regulatory Skills and Changes in Weight-Loss Behaviors: Mediation by Barriers Self-Efficacy

This study aimed to assess changes in learned self-regulatory skills and barriers self-efficacy associated with theory-based behavioral weight-loss treatments with different curricular emphases, and to evaluate mechanisms of short- and long-term changes in exercise and eating behaviors via self-regulatory skills usage to inform theory and improve lagging intervention effects. Women with obesity volunteered and were randomly allocated into 1-year community-based behavioral weight-loss treatments with either a high ( n = 37) or moderate ( n = 41) focus on building self-regulatory skills to overcome lifestyle barriers. They were periodically assessed on measures of exercise- and eating-related self-regulatory skill usage, exercise- and eating-related barriers self-efficacy, exercise outputs, fruit/vegetable intake, and body composition. Reductions in weight and waist circumference, increases in exercise- and eating-related self-regulation and barriers self-efficacy, and increases in exercise and fruit/vegetable intake were each significant overall, and significantly greater in the group with a high self-regulatory skills-building focus. Change in barriers self-efficacy significantly mediated relationships between self-regulation change and changes in exercise outputs and fruit/vegetable intake from both baseline–Month 6 and baseline–Month 12. Change in barriers self-efficacy also significantly mediated relationships between change in self-regulation for eating from baseline–Month 3 and long-term changes in self-regulation for eating. Findings supported tenets of social cognitive, self-efficacy, and self-regulation theories: and indicated the importance of emphasizing, and facilitating a high amount of instruction and rehearsal time for self-regulatory skills development within behavioral weight-loss treatments. The ability to nurture self-efficacy through overcoming lifestyle barriers was also indicated.

Study Protocol: The Coaching Alternative Parenting Strategies (CAPS) Study of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy in Child Welfare Families.

BackgroundChild maltreatment (CM) constitutes a serious public health problem in the United States with parents implicated in a majority of physical abuse and neglect cases. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an intensive intervention for CM families that uses innovative “bug-in-ear” coaching to improve parenting and child outcomes, and reduce CM recidivism; however, the mechanisms underlying its effects are little understood. The Coaching Alternative Parenting Strategies (CAPS) study aims to clarify the behavioral, neural, and physiological mechanisms of action in PCIT that support positive changes in parenting, improve parent and child self-regulation and social perceptions, and reduce CM in child welfare-involved families.MethodsThe CAPS study includes 204 child welfare-involved parent-child dyads recruited from Oregon Department of Human Services to participate in a randomized controlled trial of PCIT versus a services-as-usual control condition (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02684903). Children ages 3–8 years at study entry and their parents complete a pre-treatment assessment prior to randomization and a post-treatment assessment 9–12 months post study entry. Dyads randomized to PCIT complete an additional, abbreviated assessment at mid-treatment. Each assessment includes individual and joint measures of parents’ and children’s cardiac physiology at rest, during experimental tasks, and in recovery; observational coding of parent-child interactions; and individual electroencephalogram (EEG) sessions including attentional and cognitive control tasks. In addition, parents and children complete an emotion regulation task and parents report on their own and their child’s adverse childhood experiences and socio-cognitive processes, while children complete a cognitive screen and a behavioral measure of inhibitory control. Parents and children also provide anthropometric measures of allostatic load and 4–5 whole blood spots to assess inflammation and immune markers. CM recidivism is assessed for all study families at 6-month follow-up. Post-treatment and follow-up assessments are currently underway.DiscussionKnowledge gained from this study will clarify PCIT effects on neurobehavioral target mechanisms of change in predicting CM risk reduction, positive, responsive parenting, and children’s outcomes. This knowledge can help to guide efforts to tailor and adapt PCIT to vary in dosage and cost on the basis of individual differences in CM-risk factors.

Competing or Complementary? Government-Regulation and Self-Regulation in the Global Financial Sector

This study offers insights into the complex global regulatory environment by exploring the nature of the relationship between government-regulation and voluntary self-regulation within the context of the global financial sector. We specifically examine the extent to which financial sector government-regulation and self-regulation are complementary or substitutive, how they compare in their responses to a global financial crisis, and the extent to which changes in self-regulation may precede changes in government regulation (which is a widely held belief). Using a panel dataset of banking regulations across 71 countries during the years 2001-2015, we are able to reveal additional insights into the nature of the global financial regulatory system. Our empirical analysis indicates an overall substitutive relationship between industry government regulation and self-regulation. Additionally, we find that government regulation strengthens while self-regulation weakens in response to a financial crisis. Lastly, we find empirical support for the presumption that governments may take regulatory cues from private industry actors over time; however, government-regulation tends to respond in the opposite direction to changes in self-regulation.

Treatment-associated Improvements in Self-regulation and Mood as Theory-based Correlates of Increased Self-efficacy for Weight-management Behaviors

Expanded understanding of the psychosocial dynamics of weight-loss treatment processes is required to improve consistently poor results. Women with obesity of ages 40–59 years participated in self-regulation-based (n = 41) and information-based (n = 46) treatments. Improvements in self-regulation and self-efficacy related to exercise and eating, mood, exercise, intake of fruits/vegetables and sweets, and weight were significant, and generally greater in the self-regulation group. Exercise- and eating-behavior changes significantly mediated the prediction of self-efficacy changes by changes in self-regulation, with mood change significantly adding to the prediction strength. Findings suggested the value in supporting exercise for its psychosocial benefits within weight-loss treatment.

Self-Regulation in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders "SR-MRehab: Un Colegio Emocionante": A Protocol Study.

Self-regulation refers to the ability to control and modulate behavior, and it can include both emotional and cognitive modulation. Children with neurodevelopmental disorders may show difficulties in self-regulation. The main objective of this study is to improve self-regulation skills in children between 6 and 11 years of age with neurodevelopmental disorders. Methodology: A randomized controlled trial will be conducted with the use of “SR-MRehab: Un colegio emocionante”, based on a non-immersive virtual reality system where virtual objects can be managed by children in a natural way using their hands. Children will be recruited from several schools of Granada (Spain) and they will be randomly allocated to two groups. An assessment will be conducted before and after the intervention and 24 weeks after the end of the intervention process. The experimental group will receive the intervention using virtual reality. The control group will receive a standard self-regulation program. Both interventions will be performed once a week for a total of 10 sessions. Changes in self-regulation, as well as the acceptability of technology with the use of SR-MRehab, will be evaluated. The results will be published and will provide evidence regarding the use of this type of intervention in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Trial registration: Registered with code NCT04418921.

Proximal and distal predictors of self-regulatory change in children aged 4 to 7\u2009years

BackgroundGrowth in early self-regulation skills has been linked to positive health, wellbeing, and achievement trajectories across the lifespan. While individual studies have documented specific influences on self-regulation competencies in early childhood, few have modelled a comprehensive range of predictors of self-regulation change across health, development, and environment simultaneously. This study aimed to examine the concurrent associations among a range of proximal and distal influences on change in children’s self-regulation skills over 2 years from age 4–5 years.MethodsData from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (N = 4983) were used in a structural equation model, predicting a multi-source composite measure of self-regulation at each of 4–5 years and 6–7 years. By controlling for earlier self-regulation and covariates, the model examined the relative contributions of a comprehensive range of variables to self-regulation change including health, development, educational, home environment, time-use, and neighbourhood characteristics.ResultsThe significant predictors of children’s self-regulation growth across 4 to 7 years were fewer behavioural sleep problems, higher gross motor and pre-academic skills, lower levels of maternal and paternal angry parenting, and lower levels of financial hardship. There were also marginal effects for high-quality home learning environments and child-educator relationships.ConclusionFindings suggest that if we are to successfully foster children’s self-regulation skills, interventionists would do well to operate not only on children’s current capacities but also key aspects of their surrounding context.

Hvað er sjálfstjórnun og hvaða þýðingu hefur hún fyrir þroska barna og ungmenna?

Gríðarleg fjölgun hefur orðið á rannsóknum á sjálfstjórnun (e. self-regulation) á síðustu áratugum. Rannsóknir sem sprottnar eru úr margvíslegum fræðilegum grunni hafa sýnt að geta barna, ungmenna og fullorðinna til að stýra eigin hugsun, hegðun og tilfinningum stuðlar að heilbrigðum þroska á fjölmörgum sviðum lífsins, allt frá samskiptum til námsgengis og heilsufars. Því liggur fyrir mikil þekking um þetta hugtak en í ljósi þess að skilgreiningar eru mismunandi er sú þekking brotakennd og erfitt að gefa einfalda, skýra mynd af stöðu hennar. Markmið greinarinnar er að gefa mynd af því hvað felst í hugtakinu sjálfstjórnun og rekja stuttlega hvernig það tengist þroska barna og ungmenna. Hugtakið sjálfstjórnun verður skilgreint, því lýst hvernig það skarast við ýmis tengd hugtök, og greinist frá þeim, svo sem sjálfsaga og ADHD, muninum á sjálfstjórnun barna og ungmenna verður lýst og greint frá rannsóknum sem skýra hvaða tengsl sjálfstjórnun hefur við farsælan þroska barna og ungmenna.

Self-regulation mechanisms in health behavior change: a systematic meta-review of meta-analyses, 2006–2017

ABSTRACTSelf-regulation is one primary mechanism in interventions for health behavior change and has been examined in numerous recent meta-analyses. This pre-registered meta-review (PROSPERO CRD42017074018) examined Mmeta-analyses of any intervention and health behavior/outcome were eligible if they quantitatively assessed self-regulation and appeared between January 2006 and August 2017. In total, 66 meta-analyses were ultimately eligible; 27% reported a protocol, 11% used GRADE; 58% focused on RCTs. Reviews satisfied only a moderate number of items on the AMSTAR 2 (M = 45.45%, SD = 29.57%). Only 6% of meta-analyses directly examined whether changes in self-regulation predicted the behavior change (i.e., self-efficacy and physical activity, l = 2; frequency of self-monitoring and goal attainment, l = 1; cognitive bias modification and addiction, l = 1). Meta-analyses more routinely assessed self-regulation by comparing the efficacy of intervention components (97%), such as those from behavior change taxonomies. Meta-analyses that focused on intervention components identified several as successful, including personalized feedback, goal setting, and self-monitoring; however, none were consistently successful in that each worked only for some health behaviors and with particular populations. Some components had inconclusive evidence, given that they were only examined in low- quality reviews. Future reviewers should utilize advanced methods to assess mechanisms, and study authors should report hypothesized mechanisms to facilitate synthesis.

Dynamic associations between religiousness and self-regulation across adolescence into young adulthood.

Prior research has demonstrated that religiousness is associated with and potentially facilitative of self-regulation, though most of the research has been cross-sectional. The present longitudinal study examined dynamic relations between religiousness development and self-regulation formation from early adolescence into young adulthood. The sample included 500 U.S. adolescents and their parents. The data were restructured by adolescent age and analyzed from ages 11-22. The analyses involved latent curve models with structured residuals (LCM-SR). First, univariate latent growth curve models were estimated for religiousness, as well as adolescent-reports and parent-reports of adolescent behavioral self-regulation, cognitive self-regulation, and emotional self-regulation. Religiousness decreased over time while self-regulation increased (except for adolescent-report behavioral self-regulation, which followed a u-shape). Bivariate latent growth curve models pairing religiousness with each self-regulation variable found significant positive correlations between change in religiousness and change in adolescent-report cognitive and emotional self-regulation and parent-report emotional self-regulation. After adding in cross-lagged paths, relations between these slopes went away, but positive bidirectional cross-lagged associations in both directions were found between religiousness and adolescent-report cognitive self-regulation and parent-report emotional self-regulation. These results provide evidence for dynamic relations between religiousness and self-regulation across adolescence and into young adulthood. Further, the findings point to possible specificity based on the self-regulation dimension and whether data are adolescent-report or parent-report. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Nguudu Barndimanmanha Project-Improving Social and Emotional Wellbeing in Aboriginal Youth Through Equine Assisted Learning.

Background: Recent statistics have painted a grim picture for Australia's Aboriginal youth, with reports of higher levels of almost every health indicator, including depression, sexual and emotional abuse, unemployment, and incarceration. Traditional western based therapies have proven to have limited effectiveness in engaging this group as they can often be culturally inappropriate. International studies have provided promising results using equine assisted learning, with a sound methodological basis underpinned by Indigenous ways of being and doing. In Australia Aboriginal people have strong historical ties to horses through their work on stations and were often considered some of the country's best horsemen and women. While equine assisted learning programs exist in Australia there are currently none catering specifically to Aboriginal youth, run and staffed by Aboriginal staff and provided in a culturally secure manner.Aims: Alternative therapy for Aboriginal youth in the areas of grief, loss, and trauma, through an equine assisted learning program that focussed on self-concept, self-regulation, self-awareness, anxiety and depression, and sense of connectedness.Methods: Participants (N = 270) aged 6–25 years old engaged in a minimum of 6-weeks of equine assisted learning. Each session was 45–50 min duration and occurred on a weekly basis. Sessions were undertaken individually, in pairs and in groups, depending on the needs of the participant and the focus of the session goals. Qualitative examination of the participants included photography to capture the lived experiences of the participants throughout the program. In addition an cultural and age appropriate adaptation of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire was trialed to track changes quantitively.Conclusion: We observed improvements in self-regulation, self-awareness, and socialization skills, evident from the photography recording and the questionnaire data. In addition parent and/or caregiver and teacher reported changes in behavior, self-regulation, and socialization skills were recorded.

Effects of exercise self-regulation on subsequent eating self-regulation: Implications for depletion vs. improvement based on behavioral treatment foci

IntroductionAn improved understanding of individuals’ ability to self-regulate through barriers in the management of their weight-loss behaviors is important. Although self-regulation related to exercise might carry-over to increased eating-related self-regulation through the development of such skills, it also might be depleted because self-regulation is thought to be a limited resource. Additionally, mood might affect self-regulation change. ObjectiveThis field study aimed to determine if exercise-related self-regulation was associated with subsequent eating-related self-regulation, how treatment foci affected that relationship, and if mood change concurrently influenced self-regulation. MethodAn educational weight-loss treatment (n=52) and a behaviorally based self-regulatory-focused treatment (n=57) was administered to women with obesity via a community health-promotion setting. Baseline – Month 3 changes in their exercise self-regulation and overall negative mood, and Months 3–6 change in eating self-regulation, were assessed. ResultsImprovements were significantly greater in the self-regulation treatment group on exercise self-regulation, eating self-regulation, and mood. For the self-regulation group, there was a significant positive relationship between changes in exercise self-regulation and eating self-regulation, β=0.27, p=0.044. Conversely, the association of those variables was significant and inverse in the educational group, β=−0.29, p=0.039. Reduction in negative mood was significantly related to increased exercise self-regulation, across groups, β=−0.32, p=0.001. ConclusionWhen self-regulation was focused upon and rehearsed within an exercise context, its changes positively affected subsequent changes in eating self-regulation. However, when self-regulation was not targeted, self-regulation used for maintaining exercise depleted eating-focused self-regulation. Findings contributed to self-regulatory theory and had implications for the improvement of behavioral weight-loss treatments.

Effects of a naturally occurring stressor on health behaviors and their psychosocial correlates

ABSTRACTDemands of a university semester and approaching final academic examinations could induce increased anxiety and fatigue, which might prompt deteriorations in health behaviors. Female undergraduate nursing and health promotion students (Mage = 23.8 years) with overweight/obesity (n = 30) and without overweight/obesity (n = 62) completed validated measures just prior to final exams, and after recalling behaviors and perceptions at semester start. There were significant increases in tension, fatigue, anxiety-related emotional eating, and sweets; and significant decreases in eating- and exercise-related self-regulation, fruit/vegetable intake, and physical activity. Overweight/obese participants had significantly more reductions in self-regulation, and increases in sweets. Self-regulation significantly mediated relationships between changes in tension and the consumption of both fruits/vegetables and sweets, and change in anxiety-related emotional eating was not a significant moderator of the mood–behavior change relationships. Change in self-regulation significantly mediated the relationship between increase in fatigue and reduction in physical activity. Changes in fruit/vegetable intake, sweets consumption, and physical activity significantly predicted weight change during the semester when participants’ initial BMI was entered into the regression equation. Results suggested that the mood-related changes in fruit/vegetable intake, sweets consumption, and physical activity were largely through changes in participants’ self-regulatory processes. Possible interventions were suggested.

Change in behavioral exercise program-associated self-regulation enhances self-regulation-induced eating improvements across levels of obesity severity

Architects of behavioral weight-loss programs require improved understandings of psychosocial correlates of healthy eating behaviors to improve overwhelmingly poor outcomes. Exercise might benefit eating changes through a transfer of self-regulatory skill improvements. However, related research is minimal, and degrees of obesity might influence the utilization and efficacy of self-regulatory processes. Women of Class 1 obesity (body mass index [BMI] = 30–34.9 kg/m2; n = 53), Class 2 obesity (BMI = 35–39.9 kg/m2; n = 41), and Class 3 obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2; n = 53) enrolled in a community-based cognitive-behavioral weight-management program were assessed over 6 months on changes in exercise, self-regulation for both exercise and eating, and the consumption of fruits/vegetables and sweets. Within-group improvements were all significant, with the greater self-regulation changes consistent with lower degrees of obesity. Within serial multiple mediation analyses, the hypothesized path from exercise change→self-regulation for exercise change→self-regulation for eating change→eating behavior change was supported in both the prediction of changes in fruit/vegetable intake and sweets consumption. However, the direct effect of increased exercise on improved eating was not significant. BMI score or obesity class did not significantly moderate embedded relationships among variables. Findings suggested weight-loss programs incorporate supported exercise, and dedicate high proportions of their curricula to the development of self-regulatory skills.