INTERNATIONAL CHILD AND YOUTH CARE NETWORK

1 JANUARY 2001
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New Year’s Dissolutions 
Research Offers Help on Sticking to Those Resolutions

It's that time of year again when we resolve to get off our lazy duffs and run around the block more often, maybe even cut back on consumption of all those things we know we aren't supposed to eat. Or drink. Or smoke. 

Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions  Make only one or two resolutions.  Choose resolutions that you've been thinking about for some time  Choose realistic goals, that you feel confident you can meet  If you don't succeed, determine the barriers that blocked you and try again

Ah, yes, New Year's Resolutions, which for many of us should be called New Year's Dissolutions. If you are one of the backsliders who breaks the first rule on your annual list before breakfast on New Year's Day, you won't find a lot of comfort in a new study by psychologists at the University of Washington. In a survey conducted chiefly over the Internet, the researchers found that most people—unlike YOU—keep the promise they put at the top of their list, at least for awhile. 

One and Only One 
Elizabeth Miller, a doctoral candidate in psychology, and Alan Marlatt, director of the university's Addictive Behaviors Research Center, found that 63 percent of the 264 persons they questioned remained faithful to their No. 1 resolution in 1997 for at least two months. While admitting that little is known about human behavior modification, the researchers came up with some interesting conclusions. People who thought about their resolutions for some time were more successful than those who came up with them at the last minute. Like after the New Year’s Eve party.

Right Makes for Might 
But here, it seems to me, is the most interesting result of the survey: People are more willing to do something they know is right than to give up something they know is wrong. Some 222, an impressive 84 percent of those surveyed, vowed to start doing something like exercising, which was the most common resolution of all. Only 44 persons vowed to give up something. Here are the stats: 37 percent promised to get more exercise; 23 percent resolved to devote more time to study or work; 13 percent vowed to eat better. But only 7 percent wanted to reduce the use of tobacco, alcohol, caffeine or other drugs. "Confidence" is the key to keeping New Year’s Resolutions, Miller says, and the type of resolutions we favor may tell us something about the human animal. The study suggests that people can be reasonably confident about embarking on a new healthy behavior, like getting more exercise. But breaking a bad habit may be far more difficult.

Addiction Hardest Habit to Break 
Numerous research projects over the years have shown that addiction, especially to drugs like nicotine, is one of the hardest behavioral traits to modify. Marlatt, who has studied addiction for more than 20 years, says those who succeed in altering addictive behaviors usually have thought about it for a long time and have a strong commitment to making the change. A New Year’s resolution may help, but not if it was a last-minute decision. That, he says, is a sure-fire formula for failure. If you succeed, he says, pat yourself on the back and take full credit for it. If you don't, "look at the barriers that were in your way."

If At First You Don't Succeed… And try again. 
According to Marlatt, only 40 percent of those who achieve the top goal on their list of resolutions do so on the first try. The rest try over and over again, with 17 percent succeeding after more than six attempts. Participants in the study ranged in age from 18 to 66, 54 percent were female and most—90 percent—live in the Seattle area. They were interviewed twice, once last January and again in March. We don't know who they were, but most should be out running around the block today. Unless they lied. 

Acknowledgements: Lee Dye, Science writer, ABCNEWS.com.

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