Profiles of Everyday Thought Suppression

Abstract

The present research assessed whether levels of depression, anxiety and worry, obsessive-compulsive distress, and psychopathy were differentially related to distinct thought suppression profiles. As a means to achieving this goal, the Profiles of Everyday Thought Suppression (PETS) scale was constructed to measure the frequencies with which various target thoughts are suppressed. The PETS scale demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and scores were positively correlated with the general tendency to experience intrusions, the general tendency to suppress thoughts, neuroticism, and health complaints. Although the proportions of time people suppress thoughts was positively associated with the frequencies with which the thoughts are experienced, the strength of the associations differed across thought contents, suggesting that not all frequently experienced thoughts are invariably subject to suppression attempts. The frequency with which thoughts are generally suppressed was positively associated with overall levels of subclinical psychopathology experienced during the past month. When comparing across the various thought categories, results from multiple analytic strategies converged to suggest that specific subclinical psychopathological states are associated with particular sets of thoughts that are frequently suppressed.