SynthesisHealth psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association2016
Anticipated regret and health behavior: A meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 99 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
99 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Healthy behavior of pregnant women: review and integrated model conceptualization.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions to Engage Affective Forecasting in Health-Related Decision Making: A Meta-Analysis.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Rethinking Regret: Reappraisal Tendencies Buffer Regret for ICU Surrogates Following Patient Death.Western journal of nursing research · 2025Trial
- Testing autonomous motivation as a mechanism of anticipated regret intervention techniques for seasonal flu vaccination.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2025Trial
- Self-relevant appeals to engage in self-monitoring of alcohol use: A microrandomized trial.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2023Trial
- Anticipating pride or regret? Effects of anticipated affect focused persuasive messages on intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Trial
- Evaluation of a Text Messaging-Based Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Intervention for Young Sexual Minority Men: Results from a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2021Trial
- Adapting a self-affirmation intervention for use in a mobile application for smokers.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2019Trial
- Mental imagery as a "motivational amplifier" to promote activities.Behaviour research and therapy · 2019Trial
- Cognitive and Affective Responses to Mass-media Based Genetic Risk Information in a Socio-demographically Diverse Sample of Smokers.Journal of health communication · 2019Trial
- Commitment Lotteries Promote Physical Activity Among Overweight Adults-A Cluster Randomized Trial.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2018Trial
- Application of an extended information-motivation-behavioral skills model to predict HPV vaccine acceptability among Chinese gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- Why Most Australians Consider It Valuable to Find Harmless Abnormalities with Diagnostic Tests: A Mixed-Methods Study.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2026Article
- Counterfactual relief.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- Correlates of COVID-19 Vaccine Regret in the United States.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- A mixed-methods study of patient perspectives on antiseizure medication discontinuation attempts after a period of seizure-freedom.BMJ neurology open · 2026Article
- Protocol of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of an adapted future possible selves task on drinking identity and hazardous drinking in graduating high school students.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Bearing the Burdens of Medical Uncertainty.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2025Article
- Influencing factors and dynamic changes of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in China: From the perspective of machine learning analysis.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Article
39 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveRisk beliefs are central to most theories of health behavior, yet many unanswered questions remain about an increasingly studied risk construct, anticipated regret. The authors sought to better understand anticipated regret's role in motivating health behaviors.
methodThe authors systematically searched electronic databases for studies of anticipated regret and behavioral intentions or health behavior. They used random effects meta-analysis to synthesize effect sizes from 81 studies (n = 45,618).
resultsAnticipated regret was associated with both intentions (r+ = .50, p < .001) and health behavior (r+ = .29, p < .001). Greater anticipated regret from engaging in a behavior (i.e., action regret) predicted weaker intentions and behavior, whereas greater anticipated regret from not engaging in a behavior (i.e., inaction regret) predicted stronger intentions and behavior. Anticipated action regret had smaller associations with behavioral intentions related to less severe and more distal hazards, but these moderation findings were not present for inaction regret. Anticipated regret generally was a stronger predictor of intentions and behavior than other anticipated negative emotions and risk appraisals.
conclusionsAnticipated inaction regret has a stronger and more stable association with health behavior than previously thought. The field should give greater attention to understanding how anticipated regret differs from similar constructs, its role in health behavior theory, and its potential use in health behavior interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.