Why Do People High in Self-Control Eat More Healthily? Social Cognitions as Mediators
- PDF / 436,072 Bytes
- 7 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 32 Downloads / 149 Views
BRIEF REPORT
Why Do People High in Self-Control Eat More Healthily? Social Cognitions as Mediators Nelli Hankonen, Ph.D. & Marja Kinnunen, M.Soc.Sc. & Pilvikki Absetz, Ph.D. & Piia Jallinoja, Ph.D.
Published online: 9 October 2013 # The Society of Behavioral Medicine 2013
Abstract Background Trait self-control and social cognitions both predict dietary behaviors, but whether self-control is associated with more beneficial diet-related cognitions, and the effect of self-control on diet mediated by them, has rarely been examined. Purpose We hypothesized that the effect of self-control on healthy diet is explained by more proximal diet-related social cognitive factors. Methods Altogether, 854 military conscripts (age M = 20) completed questionnaires on trait self-control and social cognitive factors (self-efficacy, outcome expectations, risk perceptions, intentions and planning) upon entering the service and a food frequency questionnaire after 8 weeks. Results Trait self-control was associated with more positive cognitions regarding healthy diet. The mediation hypothesis received support for fruit and vegetable but only partially for fast food consumption. Conclusion Individuals high in trait self-control eat more healthily because they have higher self-efficacy, more positive taste expectations, stronger intentions and more plans, compared to those low in self-control.
Keywords Self-control . Personality . Social cognitions . The Health Action Process Approach . Mediation . Dietary behaviors
N. Hankonen (*) Social Psychology Unit, Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 54, 00014 Helsinki, Finland e-mail: [email protected] N. Hankonen : M. Kinnunen : P. Absetz : P. Jallinoja National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland P. Jallinoja National Consumer Research Centre, Helsinki, Finland
Introduction A healthy diet, including plenty of fruit and vegetables and little saturated fat, prevents chronic diseases and mortality [1, 2]. However, young adults [1, 3] eat far fewer fruits and vegetables than is recommended [4]. In behavioral medicine, unhealthy behaviors have been explained by two major lines of research: one investigating stable individual differences in behavioral response tendencies and the other examining social cognitive variables. An individual difference variable that has attracted increasing attention in health behavior research is self-control. Defined as “the ability to override or change one’s inner responses, as well as to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies and refrain from acting on them” [5], self-control has been found to be a relatively stable trait [6]. In addition to being correlated with a multitude of positive outcomes in various life domains, such as academic performance and interpersonal skills [5], high self-control has also been found to be positively associated with health behaviors, such as physical activity [7, 8] and fitness [7]. Higher selfcontrol is associated with healthier eating [9], higher fruit and vegetable intake [8, 1
Data Loading...
