Reasoned and implicit processes in heavy episodic drinking: An integrated dual‐process model

Abstract

Objectives. University students commonly engage in heavy episodic drinking (HED), which contributes to injury risk, deleterious educational outcomes, and economic costs. Identification of the determinants of this risky behaviour may provide formative evidence on which to base effective interventions to curb HED in this population. Drawing from theories of social cognition and dual-process models, this study tested key hypotheses relating to reasoned and implicit pathways to action for HED in a sample of Australian university students who drink alcohol. Design.A two-wave correlational design was adopted.Methods. Students (N = 204) completed self-reported constructs from social cognition theories with respect to HED at an initial time point (T1): attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, intentions, habit, past behaviour, and implicit alcohol identity. Four weeks later (T2), students self-reported their HED behaviour and habit.Results. An initial path model indicated attitude and subjective norm predicted intentions, and intentions and implicit alcohol identity predicted HED. Inclusion of past behaviour and habit revealed direct effects of these on HED. Effects of T1 habit on HED were indirect through T2 habit, and there were indirect effects of past behaviour on HED through habit at both time points and the social cognition constructs. Direct effects of intentions and implicit alcohol identity, and indirect effects of attitude and subjective norm, on HED, were attenuated by the inclusion of past behaviour and habit.Conclusion. Results indicate that university students' HED tends to be governed by non-conscious, automatic processes than conscious, intentional processes.

Effects of socio-structural variables in the theory of planned behavior: a mediation model in multiple samples and behaviors

“…The study was approved by the Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committees prior to participant recruitment and data collection. Full details of participant recruitment and characteristics are provided elsewhere (Hamilton, Gibbs, Keech, & Hagger, 2020). The final sample in the latter published study (N = 121) was smaller than the final sample used in the present analysis because the research included an implicit association test for which there were fewer cases available for analysis.…”

Predictors of School Students’ Leisure-Time Physical Activity: An Extended Trans-Contextual Model Using Bayesian Path Analysis

“…In addition, we did not measure other constructs that may re ect these non-conscious processes, such as implicitly held beliefs developed through past experiences of the behavior covarying with evaluations [44]. Research has suggested that measures of implicit beliefs predict behavior, including physical activity participation, independent of intentions [102][103][104] and may also mediate effects of past behavior on subsequent behavior [105]. The effects of past behavior in the current study may, therefore, indicate that physical activity behavior in leisure time may be a function of unmeasured constructs re ecting implicit processes, but such an inference is speculative and requires empirical veri cation.…”

“…For example, the current study did not include measures of implicit cognition and motivation with respect to school students' leisure-time physical activity participation. Given that measures of constructs such as implicit beliefs and autonomous motivation have been shown to predict behavior directly independent of intentions in adult samples [102,103,105,106], future tests of the extended trans-contextual model should consider incorporating measures of these constructs as predictors of leisure-time physical activity participation. This is particularly important given the lack of effects of the intentional or motivational constructs on leisure-time physical activity participation in the current study, and inclusion of implicit beliefs may assist in providing an explanation of the effects of past behavior.…”

Predictors of School Students’ Leisure-Time Physical Activity: An Extended Trans-Contextual Model Using Bayesian Path Analysis

“…In addition, we did not measure other constructs that may reflect these non-conscious processes, such as implicitly held beliefs developed through past experiences of the behavior covarying with evaluations [38]. Research has suggested that measures of implicit beliefs predict behavior, including physical activity participation, independent of intentions [93][94][95] and may also mediate effects of past behavior on subsequent behavior [96]. The effects of past behavior in the current study may, therefore, indicate that physical activity behavior in leisure time may be a function of unmeasured constructs reflecting implicit processes, but such an inference is speculative and requires empirical verification.…”

“…Given that measures of constructs such as implicit beliefs and autonomous motivation have been shown to predict behavior directly independent of intentions in adult samples [93,94,96,97], future tests of the extended TCM should consider incorporating measures of these constructs as predictors of leisure-time physical activity participation. This is particularly important given the lack of effects of the intentional or motivational constructs on leisure-time physical activity participation in the current study, and inclusion of implicit beliefs may assist in providing an explanation of the effects of past behavior.…”