Aging and Repeated Thought Suppression Success

Abstract

Intrusive thoughts and attempts to suppress them are common, but while suppression may be effective in the short-term, it can increase thought recurrence in the long-term. Because intentional suppression involves controlled processing, and many aspects of controlled processing decline with age, age differences in thought suppression outcomes may emerge, especially over repeated thought suppression attempts as cognitive resources are expended. Using multilevel modeling, we examined age differences in reactions to thought suppression attempts across four thought suppression sequences in 40 older and 42 younger adults. As expected, age differences were more prevalent during suppression than during free monitoring periods, with younger adults indicating longer, more frequent thought recurrences and greater suppression difficulty. Further, younger adults’ thought suppression outcomes changed over time, while trajectories for older adults’ were relatively stable. Results are discussed in terms of older adults’ reduced thought recurrence, which was potentially afforded by age-related changes in reactive control and distractibility.

The frequency of involuntary autobiographical memories and future thoughts in relation to daydreaming, emotional distress, and age

“…In addition to the IAMI and the voluntary control questions, we also included the DDFS, WBSI, and the DES II (used in Study 2). We expected to replicate previous work showing an age related decline for daydreaming frequency (Giambra, 1989; 1993), thought suppression (Erskine et al, 2007; Lambert et al, 2013) and trait dissociation (e.g., Ross et al, 1990). However, we expected involuntary autobiographical memories (the past directed IAMI) to form an exception from this pattern, on the basis of work suggesting involuntary episodic remembering to be less cognitively demanding than voluntary episodic remembering (e.g., Hall et al, 2014; Berntsen, Staugaard, and Sørensen, 2013) and therefore less effected by a general cognitive decline in older adulthood.…”

“…One theoretically meaningful candidate might be the age of the individual. In addition to negative affect, previous research has demonstrated consistent negative associations between age and frequency of day dreaming (Giambra, 1989; 1993), thought suppression (Erskine, Kvavilashvili, & Kornbrot, 2007; Lambert, Smyth, Beadel & Teachman, 2013) and trait dissociation (e.g., Ross, Joshi & Currie, 1990). In contrast, we should not expect an age-related decline for the past dimension of the IAMI following the theoretical position that involuntary autobiographical memories form a basic mode of remembering that requires less executive processes and therefore may show less age-related impairments (Berntsen, 2009; 2012; Hall et al, 2014).…”

“…In addition we included the DDFS, WBSI and the DES II, which previously have shown negative associations with age (Erskine et al, 2007; Giambra, 1989; 1993; Lambert et al, 2013; Ross et al, 1990).…”

A longitudinal investigation of repressive coping and ageing

“…We believe that the current findings can partly explain both the frequently reported drop in the prevalence of anxiety and depression in older adults, but also the positivity effect often reported in older adults whereby they show rapid avoidance of negative and threatening information including memories (Carstensen, 2006;Schlagman et al, 2009). Furthermore, one recent study has shown that older adults may be more successful at thought suppression suffering less intrusions than younger adults (Lambert, Smyth, Beadel & Teachman, 2013). If individuals become more repressive with ageing this may explain the reduction in intrusive thoughts found by Lambert and colleagues (Lambert et al 2013).…”

“…Furthermore, one recent study has shown that older adults may be more successful at thought suppression suffering less intrusions than younger adults (Lambert, Smyth, Beadel & Teachman, 2013). If individuals become more repressive with ageing this may explain the reduction in intrusive thoughts found by Lambert and colleagues (Lambert et al 2013).…”