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Adjusting to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States: The impact of disruptions on habits and changes in health behaviors.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Andrade, FC; Hoyle, RH; Burnell, K
Published in: Journal of health psychology
December 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic provides a naturalistic test of whether pandemic-related disruptions weaken habits and undermine behavior stability. We hypothesized that better capacity to effortfully guide behavior (self-regulation) would buffer this effect and be associated with behavior stability and development of new habits to accomplish daily behaviors. A cross-sectional study of 416 MTurk workers recruited in April 2020 (Mage = 34.60, SD = 11.51) indicated that pandemic-related disruptions generally exceeded people's capacity to effortfully modify their behavior. Self-regulation related to the development of new habits and to lower likelihood that work productivity decreased. Self-regulation also protected against the effect of disruption on the likelihood that substance use increased. Besides these associations, self-regulation was largely unrelated to health-related behaviors and, in some instances, associated with poorer outcomes. These findings underscore the need to appreciate the impact of contextual disruptions in interpreting and promoting change in health-related behaviors.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Journal of health psychology

DOI

EISSN

1461-7277

ISSN

1359-1053

Publication Date

December 2023

Volume

28

Issue

14

Start / End Page

1307 / 1319

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Public Health
  • Pandemics
  • Humans
  • Health Behavior
  • Habits
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • COVID-19
  • Adult
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
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Andrade, F. C., Hoyle, R. H., & Burnell, K. (2023). Adjusting to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States: The impact of disruptions on habits and changes in health behaviors. Journal of Health Psychology, 28(14), 1307–1319. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053221144440
Andrade, Fernanda C., Rick H. Hoyle, and Kaitlyn Burnell. “Adjusting to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States: The impact of disruptions on habits and changes in health behaviors.Journal of Health Psychology 28, no. 14 (December 2023): 1307–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053221144440.
Andrade FC, Hoyle RH, Burnell K. Adjusting to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States: The impact of disruptions on habits and changes in health behaviors. Journal of health psychology. 2023 Dec;28(14):1307–19.
Andrade, Fernanda C., et al. “Adjusting to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States: The impact of disruptions on habits and changes in health behaviors.Journal of Health Psychology, vol. 28, no. 14, Dec. 2023, pp. 1307–19. Epmc, doi:10.1177/13591053221144440.
Andrade FC, Hoyle RH, Burnell K. Adjusting to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States: The impact of disruptions on habits and changes in health behaviors. Journal of health psychology. 2023 Dec;28(14):1307–1319.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of health psychology

DOI

EISSN

1461-7277

ISSN

1359-1053

Publication Date

December 2023

Volume

28

Issue

14

Start / End Page

1307 / 1319

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Public Health
  • Pandemics
  • Humans
  • Health Behavior
  • Habits
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • COVID-19
  • Adult