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Research Article
Abrania Marrero
Harvard University T H Chan School of Public Health
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3159-1371
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Promoting eudemonic psychological wellbeing, including purpose in life and environmental mastery, may motivate positive health behaviors. However, experimental studies exploring cognitive aspects of wellbeing and health behavior are lacking. This study employed a 2x2 between-subjects factorial design to assess the effects of eliciting a brief saliency in purpose and mastery on anticipated health behavior. A total of 102 participants were randomly assigned to guided visualization tasks on purpose, mastery, both, or a control condition. Dependent measures included a health motivations questionnaire and a food preference task. A principal component factor analysis identified three factors on the questionnaire, and a significant main effect of purpose on the factor ‘socially-derived health values’ was found. No effects of mastery, nor any effects on the preference task, were detected. While longer-term intervention research is needed, this study provides limited evidence that eliciting a sense of purpose, even briefly, can motivate an increase in the perceived value of health behaviors.
Keywords
wellbeing, health behavior, purpose, values, self-efficacy
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A new preprint design is coming!
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This is a preprint, a preliminary version of a manuscript that has not completed peer review at a journal. Research Square does not conduct peer review prior to posting preprints. The posting of a preprint on this server should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its validity or suitability for dissemination as established information or for guiding clinical practice.
Research Article
Abrania Marrero
Harvard University T H Chan School of Public Health
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3159-1371
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 1
Posted 08 Feb, 2021
No community comments so far
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
Subject Areas
Psychology
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Promoting eudemonic psychological wellbeing, including purpose in life and environmental mastery, may motivate positive health behaviors. However, experimental studies exploring cognitive aspects of wellbeing and health behavior are lacking. This study employed a 2x2 between-subjects factorial design to assess the effects of eliciting a brief saliency in purpose and mastery on anticipated health behavior. A total of 102 participants were randomly assigned to guided visualization tasks on purpose, mastery, both, or a control condition. Dependent measures included a health motivations questionnaire and a food preference task. A principal component factor analysis identified three factors on the questionnaire, and a significant main effect of purpose on the factor ‘socially-derived health values’ was found. No effects of mastery, nor any effects on the preference task, were detected. While longer-term intervention research is needed, this study provides limited evidence that eliciting a sense of purpose, even briefly, can motivate an increase in the perceived value of health behaviors.
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
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