Assistant Professor of Psychology Jennifer Borton published "Suppression of Negative Self-Referent Thoughts: A Field Study," in the July-Sept. 2006 issue of the journal Self and Identity. The article was co-authored with Elizabeth Casey '04, who is now in a clinical psychology Ph.D. program at Kent State.
The study examined the effects of suppressing negative self-referent thoughts on thought frequency, mood, and self-esteem over an 11-day period. Participants were randomly assigned to a suppression or control group and completed a nightly Web survey. Compared with controls, participants who suppressed a specific thought experienced it more frequently and had more anxious and depressed mood. Self-reported shamefulness of the thought moderated the effect of suppression on self-esteem. Suppression participants who rated their thoughts as shame-producing had lower self-esteem than did all other participants.
