The relationship between time perspective and mental effort during the process of the change of bad habits / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the relationship between mental effort and personal time perspective during the process of individual changing bad habits.Methods 230 graduate students were collected to attend this longitudinal study of 21 days by experience sampling method.The data on mental effort and performance were obtained from the process of daily change of the bad behavior.Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) was applied to graduate students.The survey results were analyzed by hierarchical linear modeling (HLM).Results In 21 days,the mental effort of subjects showed very clear downward trend,the trend of the change was statistical significant (total score(5.63±2.62),t=-5.590,P＜0.01).Mental effort didn't have significant difference in five kinds of behavioral objectives (keeping early hours,exercising daily,dieting,reading daily,limiting screen time) (P＞0.05).The male obviously put more effort than the female during the study(t=2.743,P＜0.01).Both Present Hedonism and Futurism were inversely related to mental effort,which was statistical significant (t=-2.504,P＜0.05;t=2.39,P＜0.05).Both Present Fatalism and Futurism had the effects on the changing trend of the mental effort regulatory,which was statistical significant (t=-3.099,P＜0.01;t=-2.400,P＜0.05).Conclusion The mental effort of changing the behavior will gradually decline during the process of habit establishment.The mental effort of subjects who had present fatalism or futurism show a faster decline.