Weight Control Goal Activation in Daily Life: Examining the Impact of an Implementation Intention and Ecological Momentary Intervention on the Process of Dietary Self-Control

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2017-01-01

Department

Psychology

Program

Psychology

Citation of Original Publication

Rights

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Abstract

The present study examined the everyday impact of an Implementation Intention and weight control Goal Activation Text (IIGT) intervention on the process of daily motivated eating behavior among overweight and obese adult chronic dieters. The final sample consisted of 109 individuals (Mage = 30.17, SD =9.09; 75.2% Female; 57.8% White/European American; MBMI = 29.83, SD = 3.49). Approximately half of the final sample (52.3%) were randomized to the Implementation Intention Only (IIO) condition, and 47.7% were randomized to the Implementation Intention + Goal Text (IIGT) condition. Primary analyses examined the following 1) the impact of intervention condition on baseline to follow-up changes in self-reported dietary lapse frequency; and 2) the moderating effects of intervention condition on the strength of various pathways between components in the process of motivated eating behavior. With respect to baseline to follow-up changes in dietary lapse frequency, the effect of intervention condition was not significant (F (1, 77) = 0.06, p = .81). However, dietary lapse frequency significantly decreased over time across participants in both conditions (F (1, 77) = 10.66, p = .002; ?2partial = .12), indicating that all participants experienced fewer instances of dietary lapses at follow-up. Additionally, intervention condition did not significantly moderate the relationships between desire strength and behavior enactment (OR = 1.16, p = .13), conflict and resistance (OR = 1.11, p = .48), resistance and behavior enactment (OR = 1.56, p = .37), or the interaction between desire strength and resistance in predicting behavior enactment (OR = 0.76, p = .29). However, Level-1 effects were consistent with past findings, such that desire strength increased odds of behavior enactment, conflict increased odds of resistance, resistance decreased odds of behavior enactment, and desire strength was found to weaken the inhibitory relationship between resistance and behavior enactment. These findings suggest no significant differences between participants in the IIO and IIGT conditions with respect to the process of daily motivated eating behavior, or pre- to post-intervention changes in past week dietary lapse frequency. Overall, evidence suggests that drawing attention to one'sweight management goals and eating behaviors, in addition to forming a series of "if-then" plans for managing tempting eating situations, may support successful dietary self-regulation?decreasing dietary lapse frequency?among overweight and obese adult chronic dieters.