ArticleFrontiers in psychology2023
Age differences in routine formation: the role of automatization, motivation, and executive functions.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Factors Influencing Self-Care Among Patients With Heart Failure Based on the Situation-Specific Theory: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of nursing practice · 2026Article
- The SystemCHANGE™ intervention improves immunosuppressive medication-taking habit: a secondary analysis of the MAGIC studies.Transplant international : official journal of the European Society for Organ Transplantation · 2026Article
- Predictors of adherence to a digital health application in patients with inflammatory arthritis: retrospective analysis.Rheumatology international · 2025Article
- Boosting behavioral adaptability to enhance older adults' mental health/well-being and quality of life using a habit-based metacognitive self-help intervention.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Objective and subjective suicidal intent are differentially associated with attempt lethality based on age of onset of suicidal behavior.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Correlation Between Objective Habit Metrics and Objective Medication Adherence: Retrospective Study of 15,818 Participants From Clinical Studies.Interactive journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Patient-pharmacist relationship dynamics: a mediation analysis of patient characteristics and reported outcomes.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2024Article
- Habit Formation in Older Adults.American journal of lifestyle medicineReview
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Medication adherence can be vital for one's health, especially in older adults. However, previous research has demonstrated that medication adherence is negatively affected by age-related cognitive decline. In the current study we investigated whether older adults are able to compensate for this decline by relying more on the formation of efficient, automatized routines. To this end, we directly compared daily (placebo) medication adherence in a healthy sample of 68 younger (18-29 years) and 63 older adults (65-86 years) over a period of 4 weeks. We show that despite an age-related decline in cognitive functions (i.e., poorer working memory, prospective memory, task switching, and goal-directed control), older adults adhered better to a daily pill intake routine than younger adults did and, in line with our hypothesis about increased routine formation, reported higher subjective automaticity of pill intake. Across age groups, automatization of pill intake was related to intake regularity and conscientiousness, but not to individual differences in habit tendency as measured in the lab nor to explicit strategic planning. Crucially, the age-related increase in pill intake adherence was mediated by experienced automatization as well as motivation. These findings demonstrate that intact habitual processes and high motivation aid older adults in successfully forming daily routines.
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