title: Health behaviours and their facilitation under depletion conditions: the case of snacking.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous research suggests that depletion (the state ensuing from self-control exertion) engenders lapses in health behaviours. The present study tested for that effect in relation to the health behaviour of limiting snacking, and investigated whether health goal-priming might facilitate such health behaviours even under depletion conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A laboratory study was conducted involving an analytic sample of 85 undergraduates (mean age = 20.08, SD = 3.96; female: n= 63). Depletion was manipulated by having participants watch a humorous video while suppressing their responses (depletion condition) or remaining natural (non-depletion condition). The activation of participants' health goals was then manipulated by subtly exposing (goal-priming condition) or not exposing (non-priming condition) participants to health-related words in a Scrambled Sentence Task. Finally, snacking was measured using a bogus taste-test.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Controlling for initial hunger, snacking was higher among depleted compared to non-depleted participants. Snacking was lower among primed compared to non-primed participants. The interaction between depletion and goal-priming was not significant. These findings suggest that depletion should be recognised as a risk factor for lapses in health behaviours, and that health goal-priming may be a useful technique for facilitating such behaviours even when individuals are depleted.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Dilan A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Sellahewa
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Electronic address: barbara.mullan@curtin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mullan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology*; D062410:Snacks / Q000523:psychology; D013649:Taste; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Depletion; Eating; Goal priming; Self-control; Self-regulation; Snacking