Habitual self-control and the management of health behavior among heart patients

This study examined the predictive power of habitual self-control on health behaviors among 381 heart surgery patients in Germany. Habitual self-control and other trait predictors (dispositional optimism, generalized self-efficacy beliefs, health locus of control beliefs) were assessed before and six months after surgery. Social-cognitive predictors of health behavior (behavior-specific self-efficacy and outcome beliefs, intentions) were assessed only before surgery. Outcomes were dieting, physical exercise, and smoker status before and after surgery. Compared to other trait variables, habitual self-control emerged as a superior predictor of the behavioral outcomes. Further, habitual self-control explained unique variance in dieting and physical exercise beyond proximal behavior-specific predictors (i.e., self-efficacy beliefs, intentions) that are supposed to display direct effects on behavior. Results of hierarchical linear regressions provided partial support for the assumption that habitual self-control strengthens the intention–behavior congruence. In prospective analyses predicting dieting at the 6-month follow-up an interaction between habitual self-control and dieting intentions emerged indicating that self-control supported dieting among patients with imperfect (moderate) dieting intentions only. In sum, the results suggest that habitual self-control may be a useful construct in research on health behavior management, in particular when long-term maintenance of health behavior is the target.