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Future directions of multiple behavior change research

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Abstract

Non-communicable diseases (i.e., chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes and obesity) result in 36 million deaths each year. Individuals’ habitual participation in a single health-risk behaviors substantially contribute to morbidity and mortality (e.g., tobacco use, daily fast food intake, etc.); however, more concerning is the impact of typically co-occurring or clustering of multiple health-risk behaviors. This burden can be minimized through successful cessation of health-risk behaviors and adoption of healthy behaviors; namely healthy lifestyle adoption or multiple health behavior change (MHBC). MHBC is a developing field and future research recommendations are provided to advance MHBC research. A valid measure of MHBC (i.e., lifestyle) is warranted to provide the needed basis for MHBC investigations and evaluations. MHBC is thought to occur through shared co-variation of underlying motivating mechanisms, but how these relationships influence behavior remains unclear. A better understanding of the relationship between behaviors and the related motivating mechanisms (and potential cross-relationship of influences) is needed. Future research should also aim to improve lifestyles through understanding how to change multiple health behaviors. Finally, MHBC research should target the development of sustainable interventions which result in lasting effects (e.g., capacity, systems, policy and environmental changes), with dissemination considered during development. Focusing MHBC research in these areas will increase our understanding and maximize the impact on the health of populations.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Kinesiology and Health, Miami University, 106 Phillips Hall, Oxford, OH, 45056, USA

      Karly Geller

    2. Psychology, Jacobs Center on Lifelong Learning and Institutional Development (JCLL) and Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), Focus Area Diversity, Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH, Campus Ring 1, 28759, Bremen, Germany

      Sonia Lippke

    3. Office of Public Health Studies, University of Hawaii, 1960 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

      Claudio R. Nigg

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    Karly Geller, Sonia Lippke and Claudio R. Nigg have contributed equally to the manuscript.

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    Geller, K., Lippke, S. & Nigg, C.R. Future directions of multiple behavior change research. J Behav Med 40, 194–202 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9809-8

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