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A Comparison of Repetitive Negative Thinking and Post-Event Processing in the Prediction of Maladaptive Social-Evaluative Beliefs: A Short-Term Prospective Study

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Abstract

Theoretical models propose that transdiagnostic and disorder-specific repetitive thinking processes each interact with individual environmental conditions to predict symptoms. The current study aimed to test this hypothesis in the context of social anxiety. Specifically, we aimed to predict future maladaptive social-evaluative beliefs (high standard, conditional, and unconditional beliefs) from: (a) the transdiagnostic tendency to engage in repetitive negative thinking (RNT), (b) the social anxiety-specific tendency to engage in post-event processing (PEP), and (c) the interaction of these repetitive thinking tendencies with the frequency of recent negative social events and social anxiety levels. An initial undergraduate sample (N = 331) was recruited and 215 participants completed measures of the constructs of interest at two time points within an acceptable timeframe (average 8.44 days apart). Using hierarchical linear modelling, significant interactions were only obtained for conditional and unconditional beliefs with a specific component of PEP that focuses on thinking about the past involved in prediction. Follow-up simple slopes analyses indicated mainly no change in these beliefs or decreasing trajectories over time for different combinations of levels on the predictor variables. However, for participants with high social anxiety levels who experienced a high number of recent negative social events, those who reported low levels of thinking about the past exhibited a pattern of increasing trajectories for conditional and unconditional beliefs. These findings indicate that RNT and PEP differ in their ability to predict social-evaluative beliefs, and highlight the importance of research comparing different types of repetitive thinking to better understand these processes.

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Notes

  1. The RNT was formed by extracting items from measures of specific repetitive thinking processes, including measures of PEP, worry, and rumination (see McEvoy et al., 2010). As such, the RNT construct is represented in part by items that tap PEP. We note that we could have removed PEP items from the RNT-S measure that we used so that the RNT-S and E-PEPQ-15 did not have similar PEP items for conceptual clarity. However, given the way the RNT-S was developed, removal of PEP items from the RNT-S would have compromised the RNT-S measure’s ability to represent the RNT construct. Hence, we use the RNT-S in its original form for this study.

  2. We thank an anonymous reviewer for highlighting this issue.

  3. We note that Time 2 responses submitted greater than 12 days after Time 1 were considered to be beyond an acceptable timeframe and such data were removed for the main analyses (see Participants section). However, before removal of these data for the main analyses, a comparison of the 215 participants who submitted their Time 2 responses within an acceptable timeframe and the 21 participants who submitted their Time 2 responses beyond an acceptable timeframe in terms of their high standard beliefs, conditional beliefs, and unconditional beliefs at Time 2 indicated no differences (all ps > 0.107).

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship (APP1037618) awarded to Dr. Quincy J. J. Wong.

Conflict of Interest

Quincy J. J. Wong, Peter M. McEvoy, and Ronald M. Rapee declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Experiment Participants

The experimental protocols of this study were approved by the the Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee (Human Sciences and Humanities) and comply with the guidelines of the Australian Government's National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007). All participants of this study provided informed consent.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Quincy J. J. Wong & Ronald M. Rapee

  2. School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

    Peter M . McEvoy

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  1. Quincy J. J. Wong
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  2. Peter M . McEvoy
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  3. Ronald M. Rapee
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Correspondence to Quincy J. J. Wong.

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Wong, Q.J.J., McEvoy, P.M... & Rapee, R.M. A Comparison of Repetitive Negative Thinking and Post-Event Processing in the Prediction of Maladaptive Social-Evaluative Beliefs: A Short-Term Prospective Study. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 38, 230–241 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-015-9506-x

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