Publications [#368899] of Rick Hoyle

Journal Articles

1. Andrade, FC; Hoyle, RH; 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. [doi]
   (last updated on 2024/04/19)

   Abstract:
   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 (M_age = 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.