Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention

Financial incentives are widely used in health behavior interventions. However, self-determination theory posits that emphasizing financial incentives can have negative consequences if experienced as controlling. Feeling controlled into performing a behavior tends to reduce enjoyment and undermine m...

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Main Authors:	Moller, Arlen C., McFadden, H. Gene, Hedeker, Donald, Spring, Bonnie
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2012
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3323849/

id	pubmed-3323849
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-33238492012-04-30 Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention Moller, Arlen C. McFadden, H. Gene Hedeker, Donald Spring, Bonnie Research Article Financial incentives are widely used in health behavior interventions. However, self-determination theory posits that emphasizing financial incentives can have negative consequences if experienced as controlling. Feeling controlled into performing a behavior tends to reduce enjoyment and undermine maintenance after financial contingencies are removed (the undermining effect). We assessed participants' context-specific financial motivation to participate in the Make Better Choices trial—a trial testing four different strategies for improving four health risk behaviors: low fruit and vegetable intake, high saturated fat intake, low physical activity, and high sedentary screen time. The primary outcome was overall healthy lifestyle change; weight loss was a secondary outcome. Financial incentives were contingent upon meeting behavior goals for 3 weeks and became contingent upon merely providing data during the 4.5-month maintenance period. Financial motivation for participation was assessed at baseline using a 7-item scale (α = .97). Across conditions, a main effect of financial motivation predicted a steeper rate of weight regained during the maintenance period, t(165) = 2.15, P = .04. Furthermore, financial motivation and gender interacted significantly in predicting maintenance of healthy diet and activity changes, t(160) = 2.42, P = .016, such that financial motivation had a more deleterious influence among men. Implications for practice and future research on incentivized lifestyle and weight interventions are discussed. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2012 2012-04-02 /pmc/articles/PMC3323849/ /pubmed/22548152 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/740519 Text en Copyright © 2012 Arlen C. Moller et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Moller, Arlen C. McFadden, H. Gene Hedeker, Donald Spring, Bonnie
spellingShingle	Moller, Arlen C. McFadden, H. Gene Hedeker, Donald Spring, Bonnie Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention
author_facet	Moller, Arlen C. McFadden, H. Gene Hedeker, Donald Spring, Bonnie
author_sort	Moller, Arlen C.
title	Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention
title_short	Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention
title_full	Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention
title_fullStr	Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention
title_full_unstemmed	Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention
title_sort	financial motivation undermines maintenance in an intensive diet and activity intervention
description	Financial incentives are widely used in health behavior interventions. However, self-determination theory posits that emphasizing financial incentives can have negative consequences if experienced as controlling. Feeling controlled into performing a behavior tends to reduce enjoyment and undermine maintenance after financial contingencies are removed (the undermining effect). We assessed participants' context-specific financial motivation to participate in the Make Better Choices trial—a trial testing four different strategies for improving four health risk behaviors: low fruit and vegetable intake, high saturated fat intake, low physical activity, and high sedentary screen time. The primary outcome was overall healthy lifestyle change; weight loss was a secondary outcome. Financial incentives were contingent upon meeting behavior goals for 3 weeks and became contingent upon merely providing data during the 4.5-month maintenance period. Financial motivation for participation was assessed at baseline using a 7-item scale (α = .97). Across conditions, a main effect of financial motivation predicted a steeper rate of weight regained during the maintenance period, t(165) = 2.15, P = .04. Furthermore, financial motivation and gender interacted significantly in predicting maintenance of healthy diet and activity changes, t(160) = 2.42, P = .016, such that financial motivation had a more deleterious influence among men. Implications for practice and future research on incentivized lifestyle and weight interventions are discussed.
publisher	Hindawi Publishing Corporation
publishDate	2012
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3323849/
_version_	1611520321357086720

Financial Motivation Undermines Maintenance in an Intensive Diet and Activity Intervention

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