Habit Formation in Changing Circumstances [Funder: Carleton University COVID-19 Rapid Research Response Grants]

With the rise of COVID-19, a large proportion of the population has had to make changes to their daily routines, from work to social activities to health behaviours such as exercise. This affords a unique opportunity to examine contextual mechanisms of habit formation over time, and will allow researchers and public health officials to provide evidence-based advice on how people can maintain healthy habits (e.g., exercising, washing hands regularly) and reduce or avoid developing bad habits (e.g., snacking too much, touching face). Data from approximately 500 participants will be collected via monthly surveys over the course of 6 months. This will allow us to: 1) Examine the prevalence of trying to adapt new habitual behaviours and reducing unwanted behaviours; 2) Understand the nature of these behaviours; 3) Examine changes in the frequency and automaticity of these behaviours over time; and 4) Examine predictors of successful habit formation/reduction.