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Behavioral Sciences
Special Issues
Psychology of Health Behavior Change
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Psychology of Health Behavior Change

A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Psychology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 1121

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Tom St Quinton

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Guest Editor
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds LS1 3HE, UK
Interests: health psychology; health behavior change; social psychology; social cognition; theory testing
Dr. Ben Morris

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Science and Education, Leeds Trinity University, Leeds LS18 5HD, UK
Interests: health psychology; health behavior change; social cognition; theory testing; mindful practice; patient experience

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It has been argued that attempts to modify health behavior should be based on the insights of social cognition theories. These theories predict and explain health behavior using a parsimonious set of constructs. The identification of relevant behavioral determinants can then inform the development of efficacious interventions. However, criticisms met by social cognition theories include the limited variance explained in behavior and the ineffectiveness of theoretically informed interventions.

Therefore, this Special Issue calls for original studies and short communications that advance understanding about the appropriateness of social cognition theories in promoting behavior change. Papers should concern the development, application, and evaluation of theory. Novel approaches and new insights are also welcomed. This Special Issue will provide important recommendations associated with the application of theory and how these insights can lead to health behavior change.

Dr. Tom St Quinton
Dr. Ben Morris
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • health behavior change
  • theory testing
  • health psychology
  • social cognition
  • theory effectiveness

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 364 KiB  
Article
The Influence of Identity Within-Person and Between Behaviours: A 12-Week Repeated Measures Study
by Kristie-Lee R. Alfrey, Matthew Condie and Amanda L. Rebar
Behav. Sci. 2025, 15(5), 623; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15050623 - 3 May 2025
Viewed by 348
Abstract
People act in ways that align with the values and roles that constitute their identity. However, the consistency of identity’s influence across different behaviours, and whether identity influences behaviours directly or indirectly via intention, self-determined motivation, or habit, remains uncertain. Participants (N [...] Read more.
People act in ways that align with the values and roles that constitute their identity. However, the consistency of identity’s influence across different behaviours, and whether identity influences behaviours directly or indirectly via intention, self-determined motivation, or habit, remains uncertain. Participants (N = 98; Mage = 30.4 years, SD = 11.7 years) completed up to 12 weekly surveys, self-reporting engagement in physical activity, student, and support-seeking behaviours, and behaviour-associated identity, intention strength, self-determined motivation, and habit. Stepwise multilevel models tested the between- and within-person associations of identity with behaviour, and whether the relationships remained after accounting for intention, self-determined motivation, and habit. Results suggested identity as stable, with the most variability at the between-person level. Identity was associated with behaviour at both within- and between-person levels, with the exception that support seeking and identity were only associated between-person. For student behaviour and physical activity, the identity–behaviour relationship at the within-person level waned and became non-significant after accounting for intention, but not self-determined motivation or habit. These findings highlight that identity may be difficult to change. However, as identity is associated with a range of behaviours, a person’s identification with a particular behaviour may be valuable for tailoring behaviour change interventions, specifically through or in the same way as behavioural intentions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychology of Health Behavior Change)
18 pages, 929 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Exercise Atmosphere on College Students’ Physical Exercise—A Moderated Chain Mediation Model
by Ting Zhang, Bowen Li, Xinqi He, Peng Jia and Zicong Ye
Behav. Sci. 2025, 15(4), 507; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15040507 - 10 Apr 2025
Viewed by 467
Abstract
To explore the influence of exercise atmosphere on college students’ physical exercise and its mechanism of action, the Exercise Atmosphere Scale, Enjoyment Scale, Exercise Self-efficacy Scale, Social Physique Anxiety Scale, and Physical Exercise Rating Scale were used to investigate 1265 college students. The [...] Read more.
To explore the influence of exercise atmosphere on college students’ physical exercise and its mechanism of action, the Exercise Atmosphere Scale, Enjoyment Scale, Exercise Self-efficacy Scale, Social Physique Anxiety Scale, and Physical Exercise Rating Scale were used to investigate 1265 college students. The results showed that: (1) exercise atmosphere directly impacted physical exercise and indirectly influenced physical exercise through three mediating pathways (e.g., the mediating role of enjoyment, the mediating role of exercise self-efficacy, and the chain mediating role of enjoyment and exercise self-efficacy); (2) social physique anxiety negatively moderated the influence of exercise atmosphere on enjoyment and exercise self-efficacy, respectively, and negatively moderated three mediating pathways of exercise atmosphere influencing physical exercise through enjoyment and exercise self-efficacy. The results are helpful in enriching the research on exercise atmosphere and college students’ physical exercise and provide useful insights for schools and related organizations to strengthen college students’ physical exercise. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychology of Health Behavior Change)
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