Travel is intertwined with different stages of life, and people are inclined to travel during life-role transitions. This paper aims to examine how transitions between life roles influence misbehavior during travel and evaluate the underlying mechanism of self-diagnosticity, using a sequential multi-methods study design. An exploratory interview provides the preliminary relationship between life-role transitions and tourist misbehavior. Study 1a, a field study, establishes the main effect by capturing the actual misbehavior. Study 1b further separates valence from life-role transitions to control for potential confounding factors. Studies 2a and 2b identify the mediating role of self-diagnosticity and rule out alternative accounts. This research sheds light on the under-explored topic of life-role transitions in tourism, offering insights into the triggers and mechanisms of tourists’ misbehavior from a self-related perspective, with valuable implications regarding how to mitigate such behaviors.
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