Scientific article
OA Policy
English

Differential influence of habit components on compulsive and problematic reward-seeking behavior

Published inPLOS mental health, vol. 2, no. 5, e0000323
Publication date2025
First online date2025-05-21
Abstract

Habitual behavior has been identified as a key process involved in a variety of mental health problems. Previous research has shown that habit is not a unitary construct. The present study examined how different components of habitual behavior relate to compulsive and problematic reward-seeking behavior. In two experiments, participants (N = 666) completed a French version of the Creature of Habit Scale, which measures two components of habitual behavior: routine and automaticity. Participants also completed questionnaires assessing compulsivity, problematic reward-seeking behaviors, stress, and impulsivity. Dynamic network analyses indicated that the two habitual behavior components were differentially related to these mental health problems: routine was associated with compulsivity, while automaticity was associated with problematic media consumption. These findings suggest that taking the non-unitary architecture of habit into account may help to better understand the role of habit in mental health.

Keywords
  • Habit
  • Automaticity
  • Routine
  • Compulsivity
  • Behavioral addiction
  • Affect
  • Mental health
Funding
Citation (ISO format)
WUENSCH, Lavinia et al. Differential influence of habit components on compulsive and problematic reward-seeking behavior. In: PLOS mental health, 2025, vol. 2, n° 5, p. e0000323. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmen.0000323
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Additional URL for this publicationhttps://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000323
Journal ISSN2837-8156
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