{"title":"Psychological capital and health behaviours: Can it buffer against fatigue?","authors":"Man-Chung Fung, Emily Brindal","doi":"10.1177/13591053261493202","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study explores how psychological capital (PsyCap) and self-regulatory fatigue (SRF) predict discretionary food intake and physical activity over time. Discretionary food includes cakes, confectionery, and processed meat. They are regarded as delectable but are also high in saturated fat and added sugars. Physical activity is similarly crucial for a healthy lifestyle. About 387 Australian adults participated in a three-wave online survey over 4 weeks that measured four aspects of PsyCap (hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience) and SRF. The outcome variables were daily discretionary food intake and physical activity levels. Path models revealed that PsyCap negatively predicted discretionary food intake and positively predicted physical activity. Moreover, baseline PsyCap predicted both outcomes 4 weeks post-baseline. This effect was fully mediated by SRF. This is consistent with a model where SRF drives lifestyle behaviours. Behavioural interventions could target PsyCap improvement or otherwise help participants minimise SRF.</p>","PeriodicalId":51355,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Health Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"13591053261493202"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Health Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053261493202","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study explores how psychological capital (PsyCap) and self-regulatory fatigue (SRF) predict discretionary food intake and physical activity over time. Discretionary food includes cakes, confectionery, and processed meat. They are regarded as delectable but are also high in saturated fat and added sugars. Physical activity is similarly crucial for a healthy lifestyle. About 387 Australian adults participated in a three-wave online survey over 4 weeks that measured four aspects of PsyCap (hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience) and SRF. The outcome variables were daily discretionary food intake and physical activity levels. Path models revealed that PsyCap negatively predicted discretionary food intake and positively predicted physical activity. Moreover, baseline PsyCap predicted both outcomes 4 weeks post-baseline. This effect was fully mediated by SRF. This is consistent with a model where SRF drives lifestyle behaviours. Behavioural interventions could target PsyCap improvement or otherwise help participants minimise SRF.
期刊介绍：
ournal of Health Psychology is an international peer-reviewed journal that aims to support and help shape research in health psychology from around the world. It provides a platform for traditional empirical analyses as well as more qualitative and/or critically oriented approaches. It also addresses the social contexts in which psychological and health processes are embedded. Studies published in this journal are required to obtain ethical approval from an Institutional Review Board. Such approval must include informed, signed consent by all research participants. Any manuscript not containing an explicit statement concerning ethical approval and informed consent will not be considered.
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