Influencing Mechanism And Intervention Of Future Self-Continuity On Health-Promoting Lifestyle

Future Self-Continuity(FSC)refers to an individual’s understanding of the continuity and consistency between the present self and the future Self,which is composed of three dimensions of similarity,vividness and positivity Future Self-Continuity plays an important role in individual decision-making behavior,academic achievement and health behavior.Health-Promoting Lifestyle(HPL)refers to a multi-dimensional self-initiated health behavior and cognitive mode,which is conducive to maintaining or enhancing people’s physical and mental health and self-actualization.It mainly includes six dimensions: selfactualization,health responsibility,exercise,nutrition,interpersonal relationship and stress management.Health-Promoting Lifestyle can not only prevent chronic diseases and alleviate physical and mental problems,but also improve the quality of life and maintain personal health.Currently,several studies have focused on the effect of future self-continuity on a healthpromoting lifestyle.For example,the results of existing experimental intervention studies have shown that strengthening the connection between college students’ future self and their present self will encourage individuals to exercise,which will continue to benefit their health.However,the influence mechanism of future self-continuity on Health-Promoting Lifestyle and whether Future Self-Continuity intervention can significantly promote HealthPromoting Lifestyle need to be further examined.This paper discusses this issue through 3series of studies.Study 1 tested the applicability of a Future Self-Continuity Questionnaire(FSCQ)in Chinese cultural environment.The results of 1869 questionnaires showed that exploratory factor analysis obtained three common factors,and the cumulative variance contribution rate was 66.35%.Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor structure.The Future Self-Continuity Questionnaire was positively correlated with the Future Self-Continuity Scale,Future Orientation,Self-Esteem and Self-Control.The Cronbach’s α coefficient of questionnaire was 0.88.The retest reliability coefficient was 0.73.Study 2 explored the impact of Future Self-Continuity and Considerations of Future Consequence on Health-Promoting Lifestyle.A total of 427 college students were surveyed online using the Future Self-Continuity Questionnaire,Health-Promotion Lifestyle Scale and Consideration of Future Consequence Scale(CFC-S).The results showed that there was a significant correlation between Future Self-Continuity,CFC-Future,CFC-Immediate,and Healthy-Promoting Lifestyle.The level of Health-Promoting Lifestyle in the high Future Self-Continuity group was significantly higher than that in the low Future Self-Continuity group.Future Self-Continuity has an indirect impact on Health-Promoting Lifestyles by the mediating role of CFC-Future.Study 3 examined the effects of Future Self-Continuity interventions on HealthPromoting Lifestyles.Fifty-eight freshmen were equally divided into intervention group and control group.Pre-test and post-test experimental designs were used to intervene Future SelfContinuity through two-way letter writing activities to test its influence on Health-Promoting Lifestyle.The result shows that before intervention,there were no significant differences in Future Self-Continuity and Health-Promoting Lifestyle between the intervention group and the control group.The Future Self-Continuity and Health-Promoting Lifestyle in the intervention group were significantly higher than those before intervention.The difference of Health-Promoting Lifestyle before and after(T1-T2)in the intervention group was significantly higher than that in the control group.In conclusion,the Future Self-Continuity Questionnaire has good reliability and validity in the context of Chinese culture,and can be used as a reliable measurement tool for Future Self-Continuity.Future Self-Continuity can not only directly affect the Health-Promotion Lifestyle,but also indirectly affect the Health-Promotion Lifestyle through the mediating effect of Consideration of Future Consequence.Health-Promotion Lifestyle intervention can effectively improve the Health-Promotion Lifestyle of college students.These findings have important practical implications: educators can embed Future Self-Continuity interventions in mental health group counseling,orientation,or other student activities to promote healthy lifestyles by improving students’ understanding of their future selves.