Indirect Effects of Daily Self-Control Demands on Subjective Vitality via Ego Depletion: How Daily Psychological Detachment Pays Off

The present study uses a within-person approach to provide insights into day-specific dynamics in the relation between self-control demands at work and well-being. Integrating arguments derived from the Limited Strength Model of Self-Control and research on spillover processes, we develop and test a theoretical model of how the adverse effects of day-specific self-control demands at work may spill over to the home domain. Specifically, we propose ego depletion at home (an indicator of regulatory resource depletion) as a mediator linking self-control demands on a given working day to reduced subjective vitality at home (an indicator of well-being). Furthermore, we suggest that daily psychological detachment moderates this indirect relationship to the effect that high detachment prevents the spillover of the adverse effects of self-control demands to the home domain. Results from our daily diary study across ten days (N = 86 employees) provide support for the proposed moderated mediation model, demonstrating that daily psychological detachment buffers the effect of self-control demands on ego depletion, thereby disrupting the indirect effect of self-control demands on subjective vitality at home. The study underlines the importance of within-person approaches for examining the adverse effects of self-control demands, and provides further evidence for the immediate resource-replenishing benefits of daily detachment levels.     

Childhood Experiences and Self-Control

Survey data collected simultaneously in Dhaka, Bangladesh; Lviv, Ukraine; and a rural area of the Lviv region in Ukraine are used to examine hypothesized sources of self-control found in Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory (G/H) and in coercion/social support theory (CSS). Analyses provide limited support for the G/H model and almost no support for the challenge posed by arguments concerning social support and self-control. Exploratory analyses indicate that the various parenting dimensions specified in the G/H model and sources of social support implied by CSS theory may have countervailing influences on self-control, thereby producing less than desirable outcomes. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Neural basis responsible for self-control association with procrastination: Right MFC and bilateral OFC functional connectivity with left dlPFC

Converging theory and evidence highlights procrastination as a form of self-control failure. However, the underlying neural correlates of how self-control is associated with procrastination remains unclear. As such we investigated the neural basis for self-control association with procrastination using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) approaches. The VBM results showed a positive correlation between self-control and the gray matter volume of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Then the FC of left dlPFC to lateral orbital frontal cortex (lOFC) and right dorsal medial frontal cortex (dMFC) were all negatively correlated to procrastination and showed a mediating effect. This indicates that brain functional communication involves in emotion regulation and valuation processing may account for the association between self-control and procrastination.     

父母拒绝与留守儿童网络成瘾的关系:一个有调节的中介模型

采用问卷法对河南省44所中小学2171名留守儿童进行调查,考察了自我控制在父母拒绝和留守儿童网络成瘾间的中介作用,同时检验留守儿童领悟到的同伴支持对该中介路径的调节作用。结果表明：（1）在控制了年龄、性别和留守类型之后,父母拒绝对留守儿童的网络成瘾具有正向的预测作用;（2）父母拒绝不仅可以直接地预测留守儿童的网络成瘾,同时能够通过自我控制的中介作用间接预测网络成瘾;（3）同伴支持在父母拒绝对自我控制的影响中起调节作用,当同伴支持水平较高时,留守儿童的父母拒绝对自我控制的负向预测作用明显增强。     

Self-Control and Risky Lifestyles in Context: Cross-Level Integration between Opportunity and Collective Efficacy in the Study of Peer Victimization among South Korean Youth

The study applies individual trait and opportunity perspectives at the individual-level factors associated with peer victimization among South Korean youth. The theoretical analysis integrates individual-level perspectives with community-level perspective. Data are derived from the Korean Youth Panel Survey, which provided information for a sample of 2844 adolescents, aged 11. Findings revealed significant effects of low self-control and risky lifestyles (delinquent peer associations and juvenile delinquency) on peer victimization. The results lend support for the application of self-control theory as well as lifestyles and routine activities theory to understand peer victimization of adolescents in South Korea. However, there was no independent effect of neighborhood collective efficacy on peer victimization, nor did neighborhood collective efficacy attenuate or condition the individual-level effects on peer victimization.     

Gender,Low Self-Control,and Violent Victimization

Prior research demonstrates that men generally experience higher levels of violent victimization relative to women. Using a high-risk sample of jail inmates, the present study draws on the core ideas from the self-control and societal norms toward the treatment of women literatures to examine the main and interactive effects of gender and self-control on violent victimization. Results indicate that gender and self-control both exhibit main effects on violent victimization net of control variables and that gender and self-control interact such that the gender gap in violent victimization disappears among men and women with low levels of self-control. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory, policy, and future research.     

青少年社会支持与攻击的关系:自尊、自我控制的链式中介作用

采用社会支持系统量表、自尊量表、自我控制量表、攻击量表对重庆市某中学559名青少年进行调查,再次验证自尊与攻击的关系,并探讨自我控制在社会支持、自尊和攻击间的中介作用以及自尊和自我控制在青少年社会支持和攻击间的链式中介作用。结果显示：（1）社会支持、自尊和自我控制与攻击之间呈显著负相关;（2）自我控制在社会支持与攻击、自尊与攻击关系间均起着完全中介作用;（3）自尊与自我控制在社会支持与攻击关系间起着链式中介作用。因此,社会支持、自尊、自我控制是青少年攻击的重要影响因素,社会支持除了能直接影响青少年的攻击外,还可以通过自尊、自我控制的链式中介作用间接影响其攻击水平。     

Predicting Suicidal Tendencies Among High Risk Youth With the General Theory of Crime

This study examines whether suicidal tendencies among a group of juveniles who have come to the attention of Child Protective Services can be predicted by self-control theory. Using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, we find that self-control predicts suicidal tendencies. In addition, the effect of self-control remains significant even when controlling for the juveniles’ depression and previously reported suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This study lends further support to the claim that self-control serves as a general explanation for a wide range of problematic outcomes. In addition, these findings provide caseworkers with another tool for assessing the risk of suicide among high risk youth.     

The Association Between Self-Control and Hoarding: A Case Report

The capacity to exert control over one's behavior is known as self-control, and this ability to self-regulate is a necessary component for directing personal behavior toward achieving a specific goal. Baumeister and colleagues have suggested that self-control operates within a resource model such that an individual may strengthen this resource through directed practice. Hoarding is one syndrome wherein self-control may play a substantial role. Within a translational research framework, two separate case studies sought to determine if practicing self-control in a non-hoarding-related domain might have an impact on an individual's hoarding symptoms and their readiness for treatment. Two individuals diagnosed with hoarding were enrolled in a self-control practice condition. Both self-control levels and hoarding symptoms were measured at pre– and post–time points using self-report and behavioral indices. Findings in support of a favorable effect of self-control on mitigating behavioral hoarding symptoms were mixed, with 1 patient experiencing marked improvement in symptoms and the other not. We also found that self-control practice was associated with both increased motivation for treatment and overall level of self-awareness. The implications of self-control for hoarding are discussed from a disease-reduction and prevention standpoint, along with the role self-control might play within more traditional cognitive behavioral interventions.     

Individual differences in ego depletion: The role of sociotropy-autonomy

In his cognitive theory of depression, Beck (1987) suggested that highly sociotropic individuals have a strong need for social acceptance whereas highly autonomous individuals have an excessive need for achievement. Research by Baumeister (2000) has suggested that a phenomenon known as ego depletion, the weakening of performance on tasks following active self-control, occurs because it depletes a limited inner resource. The present study examined whether individuals who are highly sociotropic or autonomous would respond differently when faced with tasks requiring self-control. Participants completed the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale (Clark et al. 1995) and engaged in two active self-control tasks. The results revealed that sociotropy levels were negatively correlated with persistence on tasks that require self-control whereas autonomy was positively correlated to persistence on the same task. In addition, the results suggested that, following a task requiring self-control, highly sociotropic individuals expend less effort, whereas highly autonomous individuals expend more effort on subsequent tasks requiring self-control.     

A review of behavioral approaches to weight control

Forty case reports and experimental studies of behavioral approaches to weight control were reviewed. The treatments, categorized as: aversive conditioning, covert sensitization, coverant conditioning, therapist controlled reinforcement and self-control of eating, were evaluated in terms of their empirical support. It was suggested that self-control procedures may be the most promising treatment, particularly when used in conjunction with therapist controlled reinforcement. Methodological difficulties and implications for future research were discussed.     

Self-Control as Self-Regulation: A Return to Control Theory

In an effort to build on previous theory and research it is argued that self-control is not synonymous with impulsivity, but rather should be conceptualized as self-regulation: the capacity to override impulsive desires. Using a sample of college students and a sample of serious adult criminal offenders, we test four hypotheses regarding the relationship between self-regulation, impulsivity, and several outcome measures reflecting antisocial or criminal behavior. Our findings within the college sample more strongly support the notion of self-control as self-regulation. The result differences between samples also highlight the need to consider limitations when generalizing results from more conventional student groups.     

Construal levels and self-control

The authors propose that self-control involves making decisions and behaving in a manner consistent with high-level versus low-level construals of a situation. Activation of high-level construals (which capture global, superordinate, primary features of an event) should lead to greater self-control than activation of low-level construals (which capture local, subordinate, secondary features). In 6 experiments using 3 different techniques, the authors manipulated construal levels and assessed their effects on self-control and underlying psychological processes. High-level construals led to decreased preferences for immediate over delayed outcomes, greater physical endurance, stronger intentions to exert self-control, and less positive evaluations of temptations that undermine self-control. These results support a construal-level analysis of self-control.     

The Regulatory Easy Street: Self-Regulation Below the Self-Control Threshold Does not Consume Regulatory Resources

We present and test a theory in which self-control is distinguished from broader acts of self-regulation when it is both effortful and conscious. In two studies, we examined whether acts of behavioral management that do not require effort are exempt from resource depletion. In Study 1, we found that a self-regulation task only reduced subsequent self-control for participants who had previously indicated that completing the task would require effort. In Study 2, we found that participants who completed a self-regulation task for two minutes did not evidence the subsequent impairment in self-control evident for participants who had completed the task for four or more minutes. Our results support the notion that self-regulation without effort falls below the self-control threshold and has different downstream consequences than self-control.     

Self-control as a mechanism for controlling aggression: A study in the context of sport competition

Self-control is one of the most important structures of human personality and has been linked to a wide variety of benefits for the individual, and for society. Additionally, self-control has been consistently reported, both empirically and theoretically, as a major disposition in the regulation of aggressive behavior. Taking the advantages of the sport context as a natural environment to study human aggression, this study explored the individual differences in aggressive and anti-social behaviors as function of self-control capacity and gender. Results converged to the idea that athletes with higher levels of self-control capacity seem to be better at controlling aggression, and male athletes tend to be more aggressive. These findings not only support previous laboratory findings, but also suggest the importance of the promotion of self-control capacity as a strategy to control aggression in the domain of sport.     

Selection for Some,Facilitation for Others? Self-Control Theory and the Gang–Violence Relationship

Although self-control theory has been thought to be entirely consistent with the gang selection model, key theoretical predictions of the general theory imply gang selection effects for those with lower self-control and gang facilitation effects for those with higher self-control. This new hypothesis is tested among a large sample of jail inmates. Results indicate that self-control did not render the gang–violence relationship spurious for the sample as a whole. Gang membership had a significantly greater impact on violent crime among those with very high self-control, but there were still statistically significant gang facilitation effects for the other three self-control groups.     

Does the brain consume additional glucose during self-control tasks?

A currently popular model of self-control posits that the exertion of self-control relies on a resource, which is expended by acts of self-control, resulting in less of this resource being available for subsequent acts of self-control. Recently, glucose has been proposed as the resource in question. For this model to be correct, it must be the case that A) performing a self-control task reduces glucose levels relative to a control task and B) performing a self-control task reduces glucose relative to pre-task levels. Evidence from neurophysiology suggests that (A) is unlikely to be true, and the evidence surrounding (B) is mixed, and is unlikely to be true for subjects who have not recently fasted. From the standpoint of evolved function, glucose might better be thought of as an input to decision making systems rather than as a constraint on performance.     

A year in the college life: Evidence for the social investment hypothesis via trait self-control and alcohol consumption

The present study examined 12-month prospective relations among trait self-control, subjective role investment, and alcohol consumption in a sample of university students (N = 129). Using neo-socioanalytic theory and the social investment hypothesis as guiding frameworks, it was expected that greater initial role investment would predict greater self-control and less alcohol consumption at follow-up. Path analyses showed higher initial levels of subjective college student role investment predicted greater subsequent self-control and lower drinking amounts, controlling for initial standing on self-control and alcohol consumption. Greater initial trait self-control also predicted subsequent lower alcohol consumption. The discussion emphasizes the importance of incorporating subjective role investment, in addition to nominal role participation, in developmental accounts of personality traits, social identity, and behavior.     

Trait self-control predicts performance on behavioral tests of self-control

Two studies tested the extent to which trait self-control predicts performance on objective laboratory tests of behavioral self-control. In Study 1, participants attempted to refrain from blinking for a period of 2 minutes. Participants who reported higher trait self-control blinked less often than participants who reported lower trait self-control. In Study 2, participants attempted to tolerate a painful stimulus, and those higher in trait self-control tolerated pain longer than participants lower in trait self-control. These findings indicate that self-reported self-control corresponds moderately well with performance on objective behavioral tests of self-control. The discussion focuses on implications for self-control theory.     

Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: willpower is more than a metaphor

The present work suggests that self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source. Laboratory tests of self-control (i.e., the Stroop task, thought suppression, emotion regulation, attention control) and of social behaviors (i.e., helping behavior, coping with thoughts of death, stifling prejudice during an interracial interaction) showed that (a) acts of self-control reduced blood glucose levels, (b) low levels of blood glucose after an initial self-control task predicted poor performance on a subsequent self-control task, and (c) initial acts of self-control impaired performance on subsequent self-control tasks, but consuming a glucose drink eliminated these impairments. Self-control requires a certain amount of glucose to operate unimpaired. A single act of self-control causes glucose to drop below optimal levels, thereby impairing subsequent attempts at self-control.