Meta-analytic investigation of the effectiveness of self-regulatory components in the treatment of adult problem behaviors.

The present paper utilized meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of interventions in which components of self-regulation theories (e.g., self-monitoring, self-reinforcement) were the primary treatment intervention utilized in treating habit disturbances, depression, anxiety and health-related problems with adults. The effect size (ES)1 comparing interventions utilizing all combinations of self-regulatory components to no intervention at all was d = .25 (p < .005). The ES comparing interventions utilizing self-monitoring (SM) plus any other self-regulatory component(s) to interventions utilizing SM alone was d = .42 (p < .001). Differential effectiveness was demonstrated for various combinations of self-regulatory components.