Self-Regulatory Goal Motivational Processes in Sustained New Year Resolution Pursuit and Mental Wellbeing

Joanne M. Dickson, Nicholas J. Moberly, David Preece, Alyson Dodd and Christopher D. Huntley
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Joanne M. Dickson: Psychology Division, School of Arts & Humanities, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup 6027, Australia
Nicholas J. Moberly: Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK
David Preece: School of Population Health, Curtin University, Bentley 6102, Australia
Alyson Dodd: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Christopher D. Huntley: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GB, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: Recent research suggests people typically “give up” pursuing their New Year resolutions within the first month. The present study investigated goal features proposed to be implicated in promoting both mental wellbeing and sustained New Year resolution pursuit. Australian and UK participants ( n = 182) took part in an online longitudinal study, including four timepoints over a two-month period. At baseline, participants listed the New Year resolution to which they were most committed, and completed self-report measures to assess mental wellbeing, goal flexibility and tenacity. At the follow-up surveys, participants completed the wellbeing measure and their New Year resolution commitment, effort and stickability. As predicted, flexibility predicted wellbeing across time, however, tenacity did not. Counter to prediction, neither flexibility nor tenacity reported at baseline predicted “sticking” with one’s New Year resolution. The predicted interaction between flexibility and tenacity was not significant. New Year resolutions focused predominantly on “diet” and “exercise” were predominantly the same resolutions previously pursued and tended to be relatively abstract. Although goal flexibility predicted greater wellbeing, the findings overall tend to support the view that people are not particularly good at sticking with their New Year resolutions. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords: wellbeing; New Year resolutions; flexible goal adjustment; goal flexibility; goal tenacity; New Year resolution “stickability”; New Year resolution goal characteristics; self-regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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