Goal setting and goal pursuit in the regulation of body weight

This article reports the results of a field investigation of the self-regulation of body weight goals. In part 1, a longitudinal study is presented of the following processes: predecisional phase --> goal intention --> preactional phase/action initiation --> actional phase --> action outcome. By use of structural equation models, goal intentions were shown to be a direct function of desires and indirect functions of goal efficacy, subjective norms, and attitudes toward success, failure, and the process of goal pursuit. Goal intentions, in turn, influenced activities of trying to reach one's goal and the initiation of various instrumental acts (i.e., instances of dieting and exercising). The latter behaviours then determined the degree of goal attainment. One hundred and seventeen students participated in this month long study. In part 2, 197 students took part in a study of the bases for goal setting. The cognitive schemas of respondents were elicited and found to consist of 12 superordinate goals arranged in a hierarchical structure of interconnected motives for losing or maintaining one's body weight. Multiple regression was used to test the dependence of attitudes, goal efficacy, subjective norms, and desires on the superordinate goals and linkages amongst goals. Gender differences were explored as well.