Department of Psychology, Developmental & Health Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Appl Psychol Health Well Being. 2013 Jul;5(2):270-90. doi: 10.1111/aphw.12010. Epub 2013 Apr 29.
Most theories of health-behavior change focus exclusively on individual self-regulation without taking social factors, such as social support, into account. This study's first aim was to systematically test the added value of received instrumental and emotional social support within the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) in the context of dietary change. In the social support literature, gender effects emerge with regard to the effectiveness of social support. Thus, a second aim was the examination of gender differences in the association of social support with dietary behavior.
Participants were 252 overweight and obese individuals. At baseline and 12 months later, participants completed questionnaires on HAPA variables; diet-specific received social support and low-fat diet.
For the prediction of intentions 12 months later, instrumental support was more beneficial for men than for women over and above individual self-regulation. In terms of dietary behavior at T2, a moderate main effect of instrumental support emerged. Moreover, received emotional social support was beneficial for men, but not for women in terms of a low-fat diet 12 months later.
Effects of received instrumental social support found in this study provide new evidence for the added value of integrating social support into the HAPA.
大多数健康行为改变理论仅专注于个体的自我调节，而没有考虑社会因素，如社会支持。本研究的第一个目的是在饮食改变的背景下，系统地检验健康行动过程方法（HAPA）中所接受的工具性和情感性社会支持的附加价值。在社会支持文献中，关于社会支持的有效性会出现性别效应。因此，第二个目的是检验社会支持与饮食行为之间的关联中的性别差异。
参与者为 252 名超重和肥胖者。在基线和 12 个月后，参与者完成了 HAPA 变量、特定于饮食的社会支持和低脂饮食的问卷。
对于 12 个月后的意图预测，工具性支持对男性比女性更有益，超越了个体自我调节。就 T2 的饮食行为而言，工具性支持的适度主要效果出现了。此外，接受情感性社会支持对男性有益，但对女性而言，12 个月后低脂饮食没有益处。
本研究中发现的接受工具性社会支持的效果为将社会支持纳入 HAPA 的附加价值提供了新的证据。
