Regulation/Non-Regulation/Dys-Regulation of Health Behavior, Psychological Reactance, and Health of University Undergraduate Students

Mónica Pachón-Basallo, Jesús de la Fuente and María Carmen Gonzáles-Torres
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Mónica Pachón-Basallo: Department of Theory and Methods of Evaluation and Educational and Psychological Intervention, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
Jesús de la Fuente: Department of Theory and Methods of Evaluation and Educational and Psychological Intervention, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
María Carmen Gonzáles-Torres: Department of Theory and Methods of Evaluation and Educational and Psychological Intervention, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-20

Abstract: The Self-Regulation vs. External-Regulation Theory (2017) has postulated a continuum of regulation/non-regulation/dys-regulation that is present both in the individual and in the individual’s context. This gives rise to a behavioral heuristic that can predict and explain other health-related variables, such as psychological reactance and student health. On a voluntary basis, 269 university students completed validated questionnaires on variables of regulation, reactance and health. Using an ex post facto design, we performed correlational analysis and structural linear regression to build a structural equations model (SEM) with acceptable statistical values. The results showed various predicted relationships: self-regulation was associated with and positively predicted self-regulated health behavior; external health-regulating contexts were associated with and positively predicted self-regulated health behavior; non-regulatory and dysregulatory contexts negatively predicted self-regulated health behavior and students’ health itself, as well as positively predicting psychological reactance behavior. Implications are established for explaining variability in general and health-related self-regulation, as well as for intervening in these variables in health programs.

Keywords: SRL vs. ERL theory; self-regulation behavior; self/external regulation of health; self/external non-regulation of health; self/external dys-regulation of health; psychological reactance; student health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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