Consideration of immediate and future consequences, perceived change in the future self, and health behavior

Abstract

The present study investigated the link between consideration of immediate and future consequences (CFC-I and CFC-F), and perceived change in the future self (PCFS) to healthy and unhealthy behaviors. Furthermore, we explored the moderation effect of PCFS on the relationship between CFC-I and CFC-F and health behaviors. We observed that CFC-I was linked to unhealthy behaviors, whereas CFC-F was associated with healthy behaviors. PCFS had a direct negative effect on healthy behaviors, and as a moderator, it strengthened the positive effect of CFC-I and dampened the negative effect of CFC-F on unhealthy behaviors. Implications for health communication are discussed.

Keywords:

• exercise
• future self-continuity
• healthy eating
• intertemporal choice
• moderation
• perceived connectedness
• smoking
• temporal discounting