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Additional file 1.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) established a longitudinal collaborative cohort study to examine adherence to COVID-19 behaviours, its psychosocial determinants, participant well-being, trust in the Dutch government, with additional attention for COVID-19 test and vaccination uptake. The cohort profile gives a comprehensive description of the cohort’s recruitment and its mixed-method design.

This project investigates physical distancing in (emerging) adults, the role of (social) media, and the effect on mental well-being.

Many people aim to change their lifestyle, but have trouble acting on their intentions. Behavioral economic incentives and related emotions can support commitment to personal health goals, but the related emotions remain unexplored. In a regret lottery, winners who do not attain their health goals do not get their prize but receive feedback on what their forgone earnings would have been. This counterfactual feedback should provoke anticipated regret and increase commitment to health goals. We explored which emotions were actually expected upon missing out on a prize due to unsuccessful weight loss and which incentive-characteristics influence their likelihood and intensity. Participants reported their expected emotional response after missing out on a prize in one of 12 randomly presented incentive-scenarios, which varied in incentive type, incentive size and deadline distance. Participants primarily reported feeling disappointment, followed by regret. Regret was expected most when losing a lottery prize (vs. a fixed incentive) and intensified with prize size. Multiple features of the participant and the lottery incentive increase the occurrence and intensity of regret. As such, our findings can be helpful in designing behavioral economic incentives that leverage emotions to support health behavior change.