This research was presented at the [2017 Behavior Change Interventions for Health Habits Conference][1] and at the Duke Social Psychology Brown Bag as a data blitz.
It summarizes exploratory analyses focused on the extent to which habit strength interferes with disengagement (in this case: temporary goals to abstain from a chosen "vice" for Lent). We found no main effect of habit strength (frequency*stability of location, measured before Lent) on various metrics of self-reported behavioral success, nor on the difficulty of disengagement (e.g., frequency of temptations, subjective difficulty). However, this main effect was qualified by an interaction. Religiosity moderated the effect of habit strength on the difficulty of disengagement, but not metrics of success. Simple slopes were not significant for those 1 SD above the mean in religiosity but were for those 1 SD below. For people of "low" religiosity in this sample (who are moderately religious), stronger habits were more difficult to disengage from. For those of "high" religiosity in this sample, there was no evidence that habits interfered with disengagement.
Full survey measures can be found on the main wiki page. For data sharing requests, contact hmoshontz@gmail.com.
[1]: http://dornsife.usc.edu/conferences/advances-in-the-science-of-habits/