Introduction: Adherence is the degree to which an individual accurately completes treatment recommendations, and is defined as a comparison between completed and prescribed events. Cognitively-mediated components of adherence have been identified in past research, and include comprehension of health information, ability to recall information at specific times, and consistency (i.e., regularity of recommendation completion). To date, no studies have explored the role of consistency in adherence for unstructured, behavioral recommendations, nor have any studies explored the association between consistency and complex executive functioning (EF). Methods: The current study examined the relationship between consistency and adherence to a stress monitoring task in 33 healthy college students (Mage= 20.0, SDage= 2.0; 63.6% Male). Participants were administered a battery of simple and complex EF measures, followed by a brief stress psychoeducation session. Participants subsequently tracked their stress online three times per day for seven days. Results: Analyses revealed no association between consistency and adherence in this sample, r= -.08, p= .70. Results from sequential regression analyses indicated EF measures accounted for a significant proportion of variance in consistency, F(6, 16)= 4.62, p< .01, R2adj= 0.5 (large), but not adherence, F(7, 25)= .73, p= .65, R2adj= -.06 (no effect). Moreover, the contributions of simple EF measures to consistency were greater, R2adj= .54 (large), than complex EF, R2adj = .22 (medium). Discussion: This study provides evidence that consistency is dissociable from overall adherence, and that this construct may rely on EF abilities. Given that past research has shown a relationship between consistency and adherence in medically compromised populations, implications of the current study include identification of consistency as both a target for improving adherence and as a potential barrier to execution of treatment recommendations. Future research aims to explore this relationship in cognitively compromised populations, and to understand the impact of dysexecutive symptoms on consistency.M.S., Psychology -- Drexel University, 201
