Enhancing Self-Control in Adolescents

Treatment Strategies Derived from Psychological Science

Norman M. Brier

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317630937
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychotherapy
• Index: Psychology

This book offers an innovative, trans-diagnostic approach to enhancing self-control in adolescents based directly on personality and social psychological science. It thus fills a void. While several books address specific disorders such as ADHD, poor school performance, and aggression, this is one of the first books to translate social and personality psychology research into a set of generally applicable treatment strategies. This literature as a whole is not well known to cognitive behavioral therapists or other applied mental health professionals and will be a valuable addition to their clinical knowledge base.
Because the interventions described in the book target the underlying processes common to self-control (rather than to specific diagnostic entities), clinicians do not have to master a treatment manual for each individual disorder. Instead, they are provided with treatment tools that they can modify and use flexibly with the large number of adolescent referred because of problems with self-control, who typically present with a range of symptoms and co-morbid disorders.

1
The Construct of Self-Control

An Adolescent Challenge

The typical adolescent is frequently portrayed as having poor self-control, difficulty delaying gratification, and problems in sustaining effort and commitment toward goals (Romer, Duckworth, Sznitman, & Park, 2010; Duckworth, Grant, Loew, Oettingen, & Gollwitzer, 2011). In addition, he or she is typically viewed as a risk taker, especially in regard to sexual behavior, substance use, and driving (Arnett, 1992; Reyna & Farley, 2006). As previously noted, there is a great deal of empirical support for these viewpoints, particularly in regard to HIV infection (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004), drug use (Tapert, Aarons, Sedlar, & Brown, 2001; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2007), and motor vehicle accidents (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2003; National Research Council, 2007). There is also a great deal of support for the view that adolescents as well as adults tend to display a significant gap between their intentions and their behavior. Adolescents often fail to maintain a behavioral standard or “pledge” to work toward a desired outcome, most commonly because of the presence of temptations or more attractive, alternative short-term goals (Ajzen, 1991; Webb & Sheeran, 2006).

Self-Control Defined

While there is a lack of consensus about the definition of self-control (Fujita, Trope, Lieberman, & Levin-Sagi, 2006; Hoerger, Quirk, & Weed, 2011; Duckworth & Kern, 2011), several themes often recur across the definitions that have been proposed. These recurring themes are that the exercise of voluntary self-restraint is central when exerting self-control (Baumeister, Heatherton, & Tice, 1994; Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004); exercising self-restraint, delaying gratification, and adhering to personal standards and societal rules are necessary in order to achieve long-term goals (Mead, Alquist, & Baumeister, 2010; Duckworth & Kern, 2011); exerting self-control is a defining quality of what makes us human (Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990; Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996; Bandura, 2001); and self-control is required to cope effectively, as demonstrated by the strong association between level of self-control and a variety of important life outcomes, such as school performance, social competence, substance use, and health maintenance behavior (Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriquez, 1989; Mischel & Ayduk, 2004; Magen & Gross, 2010).

An additional recurring theme, frequently embedded within discussions of voluntary self-restraint, is that the exercise of self-control involves choice. Thus, when enacting self-control, the individual experiences a sense of personal agency or responsibility for his or her actions. He or she is actively and intentionally exerting effort and, for example, either chooses to restrain or delay a response, or decides to choose an immediate, concrete benefit rather than wait for a larger, often more abstract, distant reward (Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice, 2007; Shulkin, 2007; Ainslie, 2008; Mischel & Ayduk, 2011; Fujita, 2011).

A final recurring theme is that self-control is a limited resource, similar to the capacity to exert strength when exercising. Prior efforts to exert self-control can deplete the individual’s capacity for subsequent efforts at self-control, making these subsequent attempts temporarily less effective. Thus, even such minor acts of self-control as withholding a facial reaction while watching an upsetting event temporarily makes subsequent attempts at self-control more difficult (Muraven, Tice, & Baumeister, 1998; Baumeister, Bratslavasky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998; Schmeichel, 2007; Job, Dweck, & Walton, 2010; Baumeister et al., 2007; Baumeister & Alquist, 2009).

Based on these recurring themes, self-control in the present discussion is defined as a youngster’s ability to actively and intentionally modulate, limit, delay, and/or inhibit emotional arousal, thoughts, or behavior in order to obtain a greater, delayed reward rather than a smaller, immediate reward (Kopp, 1982; Trope & Fishbach, 2000; Fujita, 2011). Also, based on these recurring themes, youngsters who are able to exert self-control make choices and, as a result, experience a sense of agency. They actively and intentionally chose to delay receiving an immediate and small “payoff,” in part, because they do not “discount” the value of a larger reward that is more distant in time (Metcalfe & Mischel, 1999). In addition, youngsters who exert self-control are able to overcome pre-potent impulses or habits embedded in existing routines that they have enacted automatically in the past (Fujita et al., 2006; Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996), as well as physiologically based, affective reactions (Lowenstein, 1996).

Processes That Moderate Self-Control

Empirically, several interrelated factors influence a youngster’s ability to maintain self-control (Kopp, 1982; Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996; Kross & Mischel, 2010). Motivational processes initially are critically important (Baumeister & Vohs, 2007; Kross & Mischel, 2010). The degree to which a youngster believes that the exercise of self-control is valuable, relevant, and/or desirable strongly affects his or her willingness and ability to maintain self-control (Ajzen, 1991; Hyland, 1988; Kross & Mischel, 2010). Expectations also have a powerful effect and directly impact the youngster’s level of motivation. Youngsters who feel confident that they can demonstrate self-restraint if they try to do so are more likely to be willing to exert and successfully maintain self-control, whereas youngsters who do not feel confident are less likely to maintain the motivation and effort needed to sustain self-control (Dweck, 1986; Seligman, 1975; Kross & Mischel, 2010; Bandura, 1986; Locke, 1991).

Intentions that are linked to motivation play an important role as well. Youngsters are more likely to exert self-control when they can imagine and articulate an intention about a future course of action and can use this intention, or imagined, articulated mental representation of their planned actions, as a guide for subsequent behavior (de Ridder & de Wit, 2006). Intentions are especially influential in regard to success in sustaining self-control toward long-term goals (Mischel & Metzner, 1962). Youngsters who articulate their intentions tend to display relatively higher levels of satisfaction, interest, and commitment to long-term goals (Bandura, 1997; Kross & Mischel, 2010), seemingly because they have made the standards that are needed to evaluate progress more salient. In turn, these now more salient standards or “guidelines” provide opportunities for the youngster to be more conscious of, and feel more self-efficacious, when the youngster conforms to these standards (Bandura, 1997; Schunk, 2001).

Competence in attention management is another, especially powerful factor that influences a youngster’s ability to maintain self-control. Attention management comprises several interrelated abilities that include the ability to be vigilant, to selectively focus, to shift and divide attention, and to self-monitor (Mischel & Ayduk, 2004; Kross & Mischel, 2010). Youngsters demonstrate vigilance when they can remain alert and sustain focus on a desired goal, particularly in the face of delay, or in the presence of more immediate rewards, temptations (Fishbach & Shah, 2006; Mischel et al., 1989), and distractions (Dreis-bach & Haider, 2009; Veling & van Knippenberg, 2006). Vigilance is especially needed when vivid or distressing thoughts and images unrelated to the primary goal arise. As will be described, if youngsters use a prepared plan as a strategy to deal with intruding or distracting thoughts, for example, they are more likely to sustain their focus on aspects of the situation that facilitate the maintenance of self-control (Wells & Mathews, 1994).

Selective focus refers to the ability to preferentially attend to specific mental targets, or targets in the physical environment, in order to extract relevant information, lessen the degree of arousal, and/or avoid triggering impulsive actions (Mischel & Ayduk, 2004). The youngster’s ability to selectively focus is especially helpful in maintaining self-control when temptations are present; for example, if youngsters avert their gaze in the face of temptations or potential distractions or shift their gaze toward a neutral stimulus, they are more likely to sustain self-control (Bandura, 1990; Locke, 1991; Shimamura, 2000; Kross & Mischel, 2010; Peake, Hebl, & Mischel, 2002).

Youngster’s mental construals, or cognitive representations of temptations, also influence their ability to maintain self-control, in part, by helping youngsters selectively focus their attention on aspects of stimuli that are likely to facilitate self-control (Fujita, Trope, Liberman, & Levin-Sagi, 2006; Fujita, 2011). For example, when youngsters selectively focus on global or informational aspects of temptations, self-control is relatively higher. They are more likely to enact rational responses, display greater delay when reacting, and give greater consideration to the long-term implications of their actions. On the other hand, when youngsters selectively focus on the specific, concrete, arousing elements of temptations, self-control is relatively low. They are likely to enact emotion-arousing, visceral responses; react with less delay; and focus on the near term (Lowenstein, 1996; Kross & Mischel, 2010; Mischel & Moore, 1973; Fujita et al., 2006).

The ability to shift and divide attention also strongly affects self-control. In the context of self-control, shifting attention refers to the ability to move attention flexibly and efficiently from aspects of situations that are likely to undermine self-control toward aspects of situations that are likely to support it (Posner & Pederson, 1990; Monsell, 1996; Derryberry & Rothbart, 1997; Miyaki, Friedman, Emerson, Witzki, & Howerter, 2000). Dividing attention refers to the ability to separate one’s focus between two or more targets simultaneously so that, for example, youngsters attend to both the standard of self-control that they are trying to adhere to (i.e., the image of the desired state that they want to achieve) and the current behavior that they are trying to self-monitor (Carver & Scheier, 1982; Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996; Mead et al., 2010).

Sometimes considered a form of “updating,” self-monitoring is the final element of attention management that plays an important role in maintaining self-control. Self-monitoring refers to the processes that youngsters use to check in and note if their intended behavior is matching their actual behavior. Self-monitoring incorporates the ability to shift and divide attention and is closely linked to skill in working memory (Stuss, Eskes, & Foster, 1994). When youngsters self-monitor or update, in addition to regularly attending to relevant information in regard to the degree to which their actual behavior is concordant with their desired behavior, they are continuously revising the data stored in working memory so that the information the youngster needs to cope successfully is current and accurate (Wiener, 1948; Carver & Scheier, 1982; Bandura, 1997).

Attention management skills play an especially important role in coping with temptations in the environment (Fujita, 2011). Self-control is relatively higher when youngsters plan ways of structuring and attending to the environment so that they can either avoid a temptation entirely or have the temptation be less salient (Ainslie, 1975; Trope & Fishbach, 2000, 2005). The very act of strategizing on how to limit the number of temptations in the environment and their prominence also facilitates self-control. It provides youngsters with an opportunity to experience their commitment to the goal of self-control and to feel pride in their choice of placing relatively greater value on distant, larger goals relative to proximal, smaller goals (Fujita, 2011).

Youngsters’ future time sense or ability to anticipate and visualize the future also strongly influences their ability to sustain self-control. In part because the ability to delay is so central to self-control, as will be described, youngsters who are able to plan, and to use these plans to evaluate situations that are removed in space or time, have relatively higher levels of self-control (Gollwitzer, 1999; Liberman & Trope, 2008). In addition, youngsters who anticipate a future occasion are better able to transform intentions into detailed sets of actions and to link these actions to specific, upcoming events and time frames. As a result, they can create a set of guidelines as to how they should act in upcoming situations and engage in “if-then” types of thoughts (i.e., If I do X, then Y will happen). As a result, they can picture themselves adhering to these standards as they rehearse and problem solve and, by visualizing the future, are more likely to attach significance to future outcomes. They are also less likely to engage in “delay discounting” so that delayed rewards are more likely to retain their value relative to immediately available rewards (Ainslie, 2008).

The ability to employ a future time perspective is dependent, in part, on competence in prospective memory, that is, the ability to perform a planned, upcoming action or intention, either at a particular time or in relation to a particular event (Baddeley & Eysenck, 2007). Youngsters’ skill in prospective memory varies widely so that while some youngsters can imagine and view the future as if it were real and relatively close in time, other youngsters are unable to do so (Simons, Vansteenkiste, Lens, & Lacante, 2004; Feather, 1992; Liberman & Trope, 2008). As will be described, youngsters who are trained in acquiring skill in prospective memory demonstrate relatively higher levels of self-control. These youngsters can foresee the implications of their actions and hold both their anticipated actions and their desired standards in mind, enhancing the reality and potential value of future consequences. Further, by linking upcoming events that are close in time with distant, future events, youngsters with skill in prospective memory are able to create a path between the present and future, as well as a series of guideposts or markers that allow them to connect the two time periods. As a consequence, they are better able to obtain feedback about their progress and the adequacy of their strategies (Oyserman & James, 2009).

A youngster’s aspired self-image also has been shown to affect self-control and involves both the ability to employ a future time sense and competence in prospective memory. A variety of names have been applied to these cognitive representations of one’s aspired self, including ideal selves (Rogers, 1951), possible selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986), personal strivings (Emmons, 1986), and ought selves (Higgins, 1987). Youngsters’ aspired self-images are typically framed dichotomously; youngsters are said to have either a hoped-for or positive image of how they would like to be or a feared or to-be-avoided, negative image of how they would not want to be (Markus & Nurius, 1986). Self-control is relatively high when youngsters aspire to see themselves as maintaining self-control and view self-control as a worthy ideal, that is, as something that they ought to work to maintain or are frightened to not maintain (Higgins, 1999). In addition, as will be described, when youngsters are helped to develop aspired self-representations that are clearly delineated, coherent, and organized, they are more likely to maintain adequate self-control. They can more easily and accurately visualize when they are acting in the hoped for manner and are better able to experience a sense of optimism that they will maintain their aspired actions. As a result, they have increased motivation to do so (Markus & Nurius, 1986; Boldero & Francis, 2002; Oyserman, Bybee, Terry, & Hart-Johnson, 2004; Hoyle & Sherrill, 2006).

To reprise, self-control is a multi-dimensional construct that is defined as a youngster’s ability to actively and intentionally modulate, limit, delay, and/or inhibit emotional arousal, thoughts, or behavior in order to attain a larger, distant reward rather than an immediate, smaller reward (Kopp, 1982; Trope & Fishbach, 2000; Fujita, 2011). A variety of interrelated factors influence or moderate the youngster’s ability to exercise self-control. Motivation, initially, is a critical determinant, influenced strongly by expectancy beliefs. For youngsters to sustain self-control, they need to view self-control as desirable and believe that they can act with self-restraint if they try to do so (Mischel, 1973; Bandura, 1986). Intentions also play an important role and affect motivation. Youngsters need to mentally represent their intentions and use these representations as a guide for future actions. In doing so, they are more likely to maintain their focus on the potential rewards that will result (de Ridder & de Wit, 2006).

Attention management is still another factor that has a powerful influence on self-control. Youngsters need to sustain their focus on desired behavior, resist distractions, and regularly switch their focus between a desired self-control standard and their actual behavior so that they can monitor the adequacy of their efforts. In addition, they need to stay vigilant so that they can selectively focus on cues that indicate either the need for self-restraint or the potential risk of loss of control (Fishbach & Shah, 2006; Carver & Scheier, 1982; Locke, 1991). The ability to anticipate and envision the future, and employ prospective memory, also influences self-control, in part, by making planning and rehearsal possible (Gollwitzer, 1999; Oyserman & James, 2009). An important element of envisioning the future, which impacts self-control, is the youngster’s aspired self-image (Hoyle & Sherrill, 2006; Kross & Mischel, 2010). Youngsters display relatively greater self-restraint when they both wish to see themselves as maintaining self-control and have a well-delineated, coherent representation of desired behavior (Oyserman et al., 2004).

2
Adolescents and Self-Control

Factors That Influence Self-Control in Adolescence

While the definitions of adolescence that have been proposed and the time frames used to connote the beginning and end of this stage have varied, adolescence generally refers to the time period that starts with pubertal change (e.g., body size and composition and sexual maturation) and ends when the individual is able to carry out adult roles and responsibilities (Arnett, 1992; Dahl, 2004). Based on this definition, the adolescent period has significantly expanded in length as puberty, relative to the past, is now attained at much earlier ages, and adult roles and responsibilities are achieved at later ages (Rutter, 1993; Spear, 2000a; Dahl, 2004).

As noted earlier, adolescents engage in more risk taking than children or adults (Steinberg, 2004, 2007; Cauffman et al., 2010; Smith, Chein, & Steinberg, 2013; Albert, Chein, & Steinberg, 2013), consistent with the relatively high rates of unintentional injuries, driving accidents, unprotected sex, substance use disorders, criminal offenses, and suicide attempts that are evident during this period (Arnett, 1992; Reyna & Farley, 2006; Romer, Duckworth, Sznitman, & Park, 2010; Dahl, 2004). Rates of most forms of risky and reckless behavior are found to follow an inverted U-shape relationship with age, rising between preadolescence and middle to late adolescence, then peaking, and declining thereafter (Cauffman et al., 2010; Smith et al., 2013).

This relatively greater propensity to engage in risk taking is due, in large part, to age-related changes in pubertal development and brain maturation. As a consequence, adolescents tend to become more attentive to, and seek out, novelty, rewards, and sensations, although the parts of the brain that affect the abilities that underlie self-control, such as reasoning, weighing risks and benefits, and future time orientation, have not fully matured (Spear, 2000b; Reyna & Farley, 2006; Steinberg, 2004, 2007; Romer et al., 2010; Smith et al., 2013; Albert et al., 2013). The result is that a sizable minority of adolescents, at times, experience intense emotions and a desire for novelty and excitement that they cannot adequately control (Keating, 1990; Zuckerman, 1994; Steinberg, 2007, 2008).

Steinberg (2008, 2010) has organized the available neuroscience data in regard to adolescent risk taking and brain maturation and proposed an explanatory system that he called the Dual Systems Model. According to this model, two distinct neurobiological systems can be posited to explain the relatively high rate of adolescent risk taking. Steinberg labels the first system the socio-emotional system, which he states is affected primarily by changes in the limbic system that occur at the start of puberty. These changes cause adolescents to experience heightened reward salience and sensitivit...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• About the Author
• 1 The Construct of Self-Control
• 2 Adolescents and Self-Control
• 3 An Outline of the Strategies to Facilitate Motivation, Planning, and Rehearsal
• 4 Motivational Interviewing Techniques
• 5 Implementation Intentions
• 6 Mental Simulation
• 7 Combining and Employing the Strategies of Implementation Intentions and Mental Simulation to Facilitate Self-Control
• 8 Case Illustrations
• 9 Summing Up
• References
• Index