UC Merced

Drinking alcohol in excess and unhealthy snacking behaviors are associated with deleterious health outcomes, highlighting the need for research to identify potentially modifiable correlates of these behaviors to target in behavioral intervention research. The present study applied a unique integrated theoretical model that encompassed constructs representing effects of deliberative (belief-based social cognition constructs) and non-conscious (habit, cue-consistency, affective attitudes, past behavior) processes to identify the correlates of three health-related behaviors: drinking alcohol within safe limits, regular alcohol drinking, and limiting unhealthy snacking. The study adopted a correlational prospective design. Separate samples of Australian undergraduate students completed self-report measures of social cognition constructs from theory of planned behavior, habit, cue consistency, and behavior on an initial occasion (T1) for drinking within safe limits (n = 250), regular drinking (n = 224), and unhealthy snacking (n = 184). Participants completed follow-up measures of habit and behavior on a second occasion (T2) two to four weeks later. Hypothesized model effects were tested using variance-based structural equation models in each sample. We found direct effects of habit (T1), affective attitude, and subjective norms on intention, habit (T2) and past behavior on behavior, and habit (T1) on habit (T2) in all three samples. Habit (T2) mediated the habit (T1) and behavior relationship in all three samples. Cue consistency moderated the effects of past behavior in the samples targeting drinking within safe limits and regular drinking. Results corroborate past behavior and habit as key correlates of behavior and provide preliminary evidence of the importance of integrating cue consistency, a key defining characteristic of habit, as a moderator of past behavior effects in theory-based models of health behavior.