title: Influence of age, thought content, and anxiety on suppression of intrusive thoughts.
abstract: Understanding differences in responses following attempts to suppress versus simply monitor intrusive thoughts is important given the established relationship between intrusive thinking and numerous forms of psychopathology. Moreover, these differences may vary as a function of age. Because of the links between aging and both enhancement in emotion regulation skills and decline in inhibition skills, older and younger adults were expected to differ in their responses (e.g., experience of negative affect and thought recurrence) to attempts at suppressing intrusive thoughts. This study examined whether efforts to suppress thought content that varied in valence and age-relevance differentially affected older (N=40, aged 66-92) and younger (N=42, aged 16-25) adults' ability to inhibit intrusive thought recurrence and their resulting negative affect. Interestingly, older adults experienced less recurrence for most thoughts than younger adults. Also, for several dependent variables (negative affect and perceived difficulty suppressing intrusive thoughts), older adults showed less decline in their magnitude of response across thinking periods (i.e., from suppression to monitoring) than did younger adults. These age effects were not generally moderated by level of trait anxiety, though higher anxiety did predict intrusive thought responding in expected directions, such as greater negative affect. These findings point to independent influences of age and anxiety, and suggest a complex mix of risk and protective factors for older adults' responses to intrusive thoughts.
authors: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States. Electronic address: jrb2mx@virginia.edu.
authors: Jessica R
authors: JR
authors: Beadel
authors: Jennifer S
authors: JS
authors: Green
authors: Shahrzad
authors: S
authors: Hosseinbor
authors: Bethany A
authors: BA
authors: Teachman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011599:Psychopathology; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013850:Thinking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aging; Emotion regulation; Intrusive thoughts; Older; Thought suppression
references: Psychol Aging. 2009 Dec;24(4):863-78
references: 20025402
references: Science. 2006 Jun 30;312(5782):1913-5
references: 16809530
references: Behav Res Ther. 1994 Nov;32(8):833-42
references: 7993327
references: Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2003 Oct;18(10):951-9
references: 14533128
references: Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2009 Mar;16(2):133-63
references: 18958743
references: Psychol Rev. 1994 Jan;101(1):34-52
references: 8121959
references: Psychol Aging. 2009 Sep;24(3):703-714
references: 19739926
references: Psychol Aging. 2011 Mar;26(1):21-33
references: 20973600
references: Behav Res Ther. 2009 Dec;47(12):1024-31
references: 19765684
references: J Anxiety Disord. 2003;17(5):547-60
references: 12941365
references: J Exp Psychol Gen. 2003 Dec;132(4):566-94
references: 14640849
references: J Psychiatr Res. 1975 Nov;12(3):189-98
references: 1202204
references: Psychol Aging. 2012 Mar;27(1):199-210
references: 21707184
references: Depress Anxiety. 2010 Feb;27(2):190-211
references: 20099273
references: Br J Clin Psychol. 2004 Sep;43(Pt 3):245-65
references: 15333231
references: Monogr Soc Res Child Dev. 1994;59(2-3):25-52
references: 7984164
references: Behav Res Ther. 1997 Jul;35(7):667-81
references: 9193129
references: Psychol Aging. 1992 Jun;7(2):171-84
references: 1610505
references: Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2021 Aug 1;30(4):327-334
references: 34366582
references: Clin Psychol Rev. 2001 Jul;21(5):683-703
references: 11434226
references: Psychol Aging. 2005 Mar;20(1):47-59
references: 15769213
references: J Pers Soc Psychol. 1987 Jul;53(1):5-13
references: 3612492
references: Trends Cogn Sci. 2005 Oct;9(10):496-502
references: 16154382
references: J Pers Soc Psychol. 1988 Jun;54(6):1063-70
references: 3397865
references: Behav Res Ther. 2000 Feb;38(2):157-73
references: 10661001
references: J Pers. 1994 Dec;62(4):616-40
references: 7861307
references: Cogn Emot. 2013;27(2):345-55
references: 22861128
references: Psychol Aging. 2006 Mar;21(1):201-7
references: 16594806
references: Behav Res Ther. 2007 Dec;45(12):2884-98
references: 17825786
references: J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 1997 Nov;52(6):P274-83
references: 9403516
references: Psychol Med. 1994 May;24(2):365-74
references: 8084932
references: Annu Rev Psychol. 2000;51:59-91
references: 10751965
references: Psychol Sci. 2008 May;19(5):456-61
references: 18466406
references: Psychol Rev. 1996 Jul;103(3):403-28
references: 8759042
references: Behav Res Ther. 1978;16(4):233-48
references: 718588
references: Emotion. 2012 Apr;12(2):283-9
references: 21988744
references: Nebr Symp Motiv. 1992;40:209-54
references: 1340521
references: Psychol Aging. 2009 Mar;24(1):217-23
references: 19290754
references: Behav Res Ther. 1998 Apr;36(4):385-401
references: 9670600
references: J Am Geriatr Soc. 1992 Sep;40(9):922-35
references: 1512391
references: Clin Psychol Rev. 2012 Apr;32(3):189-201
references: 22388007
references: Psychol Aging. 1997 Dec;12(4):590-9
references: 9416628
references: Exp Aging Res. 2002 Jul-Sep;28(3):281-98
references: 12079579
references: Behav Res Ther. 1997 Sep;35(9):793-802
references: 9299799
references: Behav Res Ther. 1996 Nov-Dec;34(11-12):889-98
references: 8990540
references: Mem Cognit. 1999 Sep;27(5):759-67
references: 10540805
references: Compr Psychiatry. 2000 Mar-Apr;41(2 Suppl 1):48-54
references: 10746904
references: Behav Res Ther. 1984;22(5):549-52
references: 6508704