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Exposure and Reactivity to Repetitive Thought in the Neuroticism–Distress Relationship

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Abstract

Distress has been assumed to result from exposure to repetitive thought (RT). However, if RT is viewed as internally generated stressors, both exposure and affective reactivity to RT could play roles in generating distress. Three studies (young adults, N = 99; midlife women, N = 111; older adults, N = 159) assessed exposure and reactivity to daily RT and tested whether neuroticism was related to individual differences in both exposure and affective reactivity. Across all three studies, reactivity effects on depressive symptoms exceeded those of exposure to RT, and neuroticism was associated with more exposure and greater affective reactivity. Furthermore, RT exposure and reactivity accounted for most when not all of the relationship between neuroticism and depressive symptoms. Further consideration of both exposure and affective reactivity to RT can not only increase the explanatory power of this construct but also suggest effective targets for intervention.

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Data Availability

Data and syntax associated with this study can be found at https://osf.io/rk65g/. The authors thank Stephanie Judge for checking the reproducibility of these findings.

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Funding

These studies were supported by the National Institute on Aging (Grant Nos. AG033629-K02; AG046116-R01; AG026307-R01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 125 Kastle Hall, Lexington, KY, 40506-0044, USA

    Suzanne C. Segerstrom, Elana M. Gloger & Jaime K. Hardy

  2. Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Leslie R. Crofford

Authors
  1. Suzanne C. Segerstrom
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  2. Elana M. Gloger
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  3. Jaime K. Hardy
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  4. Leslie R. Crofford
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Contributions

All authors contributed one or more of the studies’ conception and design. Study 1 material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Jaime Hardy and Suzanne Segerstrom. Study 2 material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Leslie Crofford, Elana Gloger, and Suzanne Segerstrom. Study 3 material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Suzanne Segerstrom. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Suzanne Segerstrom and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Suzanne C. Segerstrom.

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Conflict of interest

Suzanne C. Segerstrom, Elana M. Gloger, Jaime K. Hardy and Leslie R. Crofford declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee (University of Kentucky Institutional Review Board) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the studies.

Animal Rights

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Segerstrom, S.C., Gloger, E.M., Hardy, J.K. et al. Exposure and Reactivity to Repetitive Thought in the Neuroticism–Distress Relationship. Cogn Ther Res 44, 659–667 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10078-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10078-4

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