Investigating the effectiveness of self-control and habit strength based interventions in reducing discretionary food consumption

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore self-control and habit strength interventions based on temporal self-regulation theory on decreasing discretionary food consumption. Design/methodology/approach A two by two (time by condition) design was used whereby 152 participants who resided in Australia (61% identified as women) completed an online questionnaire containing validated measures of intention, self-control, habit strength and discretionary food consumption. They participants completed either: a self-control intervention, a habit strength intervention or were part of the control group. At time two, one week later, participants repeated the baseline measures. Data were collected in April 2024. Findings There was no time by condition effect with no significant main effect of time on discretionary food consumption F (1, 149) = 2.10, p = 0.149, ηp2 = 0.01 and no significant changes in self-control or habit strength. This indicates that habit strength and self-control were not effective in decreasing discretionary food consumption. Findings offer a starting point for using temporal self-regulation theory to change behaviour by targeting its constructs with behaviour change techniques. Originality/value This study is the first to apply the principles of temporal self-regulation theory within an experimental design with the intention of decreasing discretionary food consumption. The current study provides direction for future interventions targeting interventional dosage and longer durations for implementing self-control and habit strength interventions.