Self-Control and Stress: A Limited resource model

吸烟、饮酒和暴饮暴食等成瘾行为非常普遍 在美国的年轻人中。过度沉溺于此类行为使这些年轻人面临巨大的风险 成瘾，从而对公共健康构成重大威胁。自我控制可能是减少 有问题的成瘾行为，拟议的研究将建立在最近出现的基本基础上 将自我控制理解为有限的资源能力。当资源耗尽时，自我控制 可能会失败，并可能导致不健康饮食或吸烟的增加。应付 压力会削弱自我控制力，众所周知，压力下成瘾行为会增加。虽然我们 之前已经表明，自我控制可以通过锻炼来增强，并且压力确实会耗尽 自我控制能力，社会行为研究，评估是否通过锻炼加强自我控制 在现实世界中提高自我控制和减少成瘾行为的能力有限。因此，在 在当前的提案中，我们将通过开展两个项目来解决这一重要差距，每个项目都涉及一系列 随机对照实验。项目 1 包含在大学进行的一系列 4 项实验 学生评估自我控制练习对实验室有限资源能力的影响， 以及选择减少暴饮暴食、吸烟或酗酒等成瘾行为的大学生 使用。最初的三个实验旨在开发一个有效的训练计划，通过以下方式加强自我控制： 采用简单且生态有效的培训技术。最后的实验检验是否这样 在以成瘾风险增加为标志的压力时期仍能保持改善 在自然主义的环境中。项目 II 研究主观和生理压力对自我控制的影响 和成瘾行为。这是对我们的自我控制理论的一个新的、重要的贡献，因为它 将有助于阐明人们发展（或未能发展）自我控制的一些过程。在项目二中， 实验 1 研究了自我控制的要求本身是否具有内在的压力。 实验2检验葡萄糖是否为不同类型下的自我控制能力的提高提供了一种途径 实验室压力源，最后实验 3 评估压力、自我控制和 自然环境中的成瘾行为。通过协作团队科学，这些研究将整合 自我控制的社会和行为概念对压力和自我控制的生物影响。如果 如果成功的话，拟议的研究将独特地应用有关自我控制过程的基本知识 找出在大学生活的现实世界环境中改变成瘾行为的有效方法，从而 降低大学生成瘾的风险。

Addictive behaviors, such as smoking, drinking and overeating rich, high fat foods are highly prevalent among young adults in the US. Over-indulgence in such behaviors put these young adults at great risk for addiction, thereby posing an important threat to public health. Self-control may be central to reducing problematic addictive behaviors, the proposed research will build on the recently emerging basic understanding of self-control as a limited resource capacity. When that resource has been depleted, selfcontrol is likely to fail, potentially resulting in an increase in unhealthy eating, drinking, or smoking. Coping with stress depletes self control, and addictive behaviors are known to increase under stress. Although we have previously shown that self control may be strengthened via exercises and that stress indeed depletes self control capacity, social behavioral research to assess whether strengthening self control via exercises could improve self control and decrease addictive behaviors in the real world has been limited. Therefore, in the current proposal we will address this important gap by conducting two projects, each involving a series of randomized controlled experiments. Project 1 encompasses a series of 4 experiments conducted in college students that evaluate the impact of self-control exercises on this limited resource capacity in the laboratory, and among college students choosing to decrease addictive behaviors of overeating, smoking or alcohol use. The initial three experiments aim to develop an efficient training program that strengthens self-control by employing simple and ecologically-valid training techniques. The final experiment examines whether such improvements are maintained during stressful periods marked by elevated risk for addictive indulgence within a naturalistic setting. Project II examines the impact of subjective and physiological stress on selfcontrol and addictive behaviors. This is a new and important contribution to our theory of self-control, as it will help clarify some of the processes by which people develop (or fail to develop) self-control. In Project II, experiment 1 investigates whether the demands for self-control are themselves inherently stressful. Experiment 2 examines whether glucose provides a way for improvement of self-control under different types of laboratory stressors, and finally experiment 3 assesses the association between stress, self-control and addictive behaviors in a naturalistic setting. Through collaborative team science, these studies will integrate social arid behavioral conceptions of self-control with biological influences on stress and self control. If successful, the proposed research will uniquely apply basic knowledge about self control processes to identify effective ways to change addictive behaviors in the real world setting of college life, and thereby decrease the risk of developing addiction among college students.