The Role of Self-regulation in the Association between Habitual Propensity with Impulsivity and Compulsivity

Abstract

Background. Adaptive behavior depends on the process of self-regulation, controlling actions, feelings, or thoughts. If self-regulation fails, maladaptive behavior may start to predominate, leading to impulsive actions, maladaptive habits, and compulsive behavior patterns. Habits are triggered au-tomatically, usually without conscious awareness or deliberate control and make behavior more efficient. The tendency to develop habitual behavior differs substantially between individuals and appears to be associated with different aspects of regulatory control. The present study examined associations of habitual propensity with self-regulation, impulsivity, and compulsivity, elucidating possible underlying functional connections and evaluated the psychometric properties of a German version of the Creature of Habit Scale (COHS). Methods. Data of two independent community samples was collected online. Psychometric analyses were conducted using exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses utilizing a Bayesian lasso procedure. Dynamic connec-tions with measures of regulatory control, namely self-regulation, impulsivity, and compulsivity were analyzed using a network approach. Results. We replicated and validated the two-factorial structure of the COHS. Network analysis revealed that self-regulation was the most central node within the network of dynamic interactions between habitual propensity, impulsivity, and compul-sivity. Self-regulation exclusively had negative associations with other measures, an exception be-ing the association with the routine subscale of the COHS, which was an indirect one. Conclusions. Our findings provide evidence that habitual propensity is interconnected with measures of regula-tory control. Information on habitual behavior gathered using the COHS could be useful in identifying vulnerabilities and developing tailored therapeutic strategies for psychopathologies associated with deficient regulatory control.

Metacognition and Self-determination, Impulsivity and Emotional intelligence, and its relation with wellbeing and health indicators in young adults

“…La relación entre la impulsividad y el comportamiento compulsivo, ha sido ampliamente abordada. En el meta análisis realizado por Lee, Hoppenbrouwers & Franken (2019) sugieren que, con leves diferencias respecto al tipo de conducta, ambos procesos son centrales en la explicación de conductas adictivas, muchas de las cuales pueden resultar de la adquisición de hábitos por exposición prolongada a las conductas, antecedidas por procesos autorregulatorios (Overmeyer, 2019), como los procedentes por ejemplo, desde la autodeterminación (H 3 ). En este mismo sentido Tiego et al ( 2019) agrupan a la impulsividad y la compulsión como factores de una única dimensión denominada como "Conducta desinhibida".…”