Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, WesternBank, Sheffield S10 2TP, United Kingdom.
Health Psychol. 2011 Sep;30(5):633-41. doi: 10.1037/a0023738.
To test the ability of a new, brief means of affirming the self (the "self-affirming implementation intention") to decrease alcohol consumption against a standard means of self-affirmation (the self-affirming "kindness" questionnaire) and an active control condition; to test whether self-affirmation effects can be sustained beyond the experimental session; and to examine potential moderators of the effects.
Two hundred seventy-eight participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: control questionnaire, self-affirming questionnaire, and self-affirming implementation intention. All participants were exposed to a threatening health message, designed to inform them about the health risks associated with consuming alcohol.
The main outcome measure was subsequent alcohol intake.
There were significant public health gains and statistically significant decreases (>1 unit/day) in alcohol consumption in the two experimental conditions but not in the control condition. At the end of the study, participants in the control condition were consuming 2.31 units of alcohol per day; people in the self-affirming questionnaire condition were consuming 1.52 units of alcohol per day; and people in the self-affirming implementation intention condition were consuming 1.53 units of alcohol per day. There were no significant differences between the self-affirming questionnaire and self-affirming implementation intention, and adherence did not moderate the effects. Self-affirmation also improved message processing, increased perceived threat, and led to lower message derogation.
The findings support the efficacy of a new, brief self-affirmation manipulation to enhance the effectiveness of health risk information over time. Further research is needed to identify mediators of the effects of self-affirmation on health behavior change.
测试一种新的、简短的自我肯定手段（“自我肯定实施意向”）减少饮酒量的能力，以对抗标准的自我肯定手段（自我肯定的“友善”问卷）和积极的对照条件；测试自我肯定的效果是否可以持续到实验结束后；并检查效果的潜在调节因素。
将 278 名参与者随机分配到三个条件之一：对照组问卷、自我肯定问卷和自我肯定实施意向。所有参与者都接触到一个威胁健康的信息，旨在告知他们饮酒与健康风险有关。
主要结果测量是随后的酒精摄入量。
在两个实验条件下，有显著的公共卫生收益和统计学上显著的饮酒量减少（>1 单位/天），但在对照条件下没有。在研究结束时，对照组的参与者每天饮酒 2.31 单位；自我肯定问卷组的参与者每天饮酒 1.52 单位；自我肯定实施意向组的参与者每天饮酒 1.53 单位。自我肯定问卷组和自我肯定实施意向组之间没有显著差异，且坚持度没有调节作用。自我肯定还改善了信息处理，增加了感知威胁，并导致对信息的贬低降低。
这些发现支持了一种新的、简短的自我肯定手段的有效性，该手段可以随着时间的推移增强健康风险信息的有效性。需要进一步研究来确定自我肯定对健康行为改变的影响的中介因素。
