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Self-care is important for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients' disease prognosis, but there is a common phenomenon of self-regulation failure in T2DMs. In order to figure this problem out, the current study explored the interaction between self-regulation resource depletion and diabetes self-care based on the limited resource model of self-regulation. 104 patients were surveyed using the Self-Regulatory Fatigue Scale (SRF-S) and the Diabetes Self-care Scale (DSCS) in study 1. Study 2 recruited 30 T2DM patients and 30 healthy controls, and used a sequential-task paradigm to test the effect of self-regulation resource depletion on them. Participants in study 3 were 60 T2DM patients under different levels of self-regulation resource depletion manipulation, and their self-regulation performance was recorded and compared. Study 1 indicated that the correlation between self-regulation resource depletion and exercise and diet was significant and negative, suggesting that patients with greater self-regulation resource depletion performed poorly in exercise and diet. In Study 2, T2DM patients exhibited a poorer performance on the Spatial Incompatibility Task than the participants in the control group, suggesting that their self-regulation resource was insufficient. Study 3 indicated that there was no difference in Spatial Incompatibility Task performance, reaction time or error number among patients who were requested to complete a dietary record for one week and patients who were only requested to record eating times. This research demonstrated that low levels of diabetes self-care execution was associated with patients' deficiency in self-regulatory resource, and self-care as a series of goal-directed behaviors consumed patients' self-regulatory resources before these behaviors became a habit.

Although ego depletion effects have been widely observed in experiments in which participants perform consecutive self-control tasks, the process of ego depletion remains poorly understood. Using the strength model of self-control, we hypothesized that chronic ego depletion adversely affects goal adherence and that mental effort and motivation are involved in the process of ego depletion. In this study, 203 students reported their daily performance, mental effort, and motivation with respect to goal directed behavior across a 3-week time period. People with high levels of chronic ego depletion were less successful in goal adherence than those with less chronic ego depletion. Although daily effort devoted to goal adherence increased with chronic ego depletion, motivation to adhere to goals was not affected. Participants with high levels of chronic ego depletion showed a stronger positive association between mental effort and performance, but chronic ego depletion did not play a regulatory role in the effect of motivation on performance. Chronic ego depletion increased the likelihood of behavior regulation failure, suggesting that it is difficult for people in an ego-depletion state to adhere to goals. We integrate our results with the findings of previous studies and discuss possible theoretical implications.