Effects of Thought Suppression and Stressors on Depressive Rumination among Female College Students

Abstract

Thought suppression and rumination, which are maladaptive emotional regulation strategies, make individuals vulnerable to depression. Previous studies have demonstrated a bidirectional, longitudinal relationship between these factors. The present study investigated longitudinally whether the tendency to suppress negative thoughts would exacerbate rumination in interaction with stressors in female college students (N=55; mean age 18.98 years); female college students have been identified as a high vulnerability sample for depression. The results indicated that the level of rumination increased when higher-suppressors had experienced heavy stressors, while stressors did not affect the level of rumination in lower-suppressors. The results suggest that a high tendency to suppress negative thoughts can be a factor which exacerbates the amount of rumination.View full abstract