Testing Phase‐Specific Self‐Efficacy Beliefs in the Context of Dietary Behaviour Change

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Self-efficacy is an important predictor of health behaviour change. Within the health action process approach (HAPA; Schwarzer, 2008), motivational and volitional self-efficacy can be distinguished. Motivational self-efficacy is assumed to serve as predictor of intention formation whereas volitional self-efficacy should be relevant for behaviour change. This study examined these assumptions in a sample with overweight and obese individuals. Moreover, we tested whether behavioural intentions moderate the association between volitional self-efficacy and behaviour. METHODS: Overall, 373 overweight and obese individuals completed a baseline and six months later a follow-up questionnaire on HAPA variables and dietary behaviour. RESULTS: A factor analysis confirmed the phase-specific separation of self-efficacy. Motivational self-efficacy emerged as predictor for behavioural intentions over and above other HAPA variables after six months, whereas volitional self-efficacy did not. Volitional self-efficacy interacted with intention in the prediction of behaviour, indicating that volitional self-efficacy is only beneficial for individuals with high levels of intentions. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide evidence for the phase-specific distinction of self-efficacy in the context of dietary change in an overweight or obese sample. Thus, differentiating between motivational and volitional self-efficacy beliefs should be considered when developing future interventions of dietary change.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 95 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.