The structure and health correlates of trait repetitive thought in older adults

Repetitive thought (RT) involves frequent or prolonged thoughts about oneself and one's world, encompassing discrete forms such as trait worry, rumination, processing, and reminiscing. These forms of RT can be described using 3 basic, underlying qualities: total propensity for RT of all types, valence (positive vs. negative content), and purpose (searching or uncertainty vs. solving or certainty). The adaptiveness of discrete forms with regard to health is likely to be related to these qualities, particularly valence and total propensity. The present study confirmed the model and identified the relationship of these qualities of RT to subjective psychological, physical, and cognitive health in older adults aged 60-94 (N = 179). As predicted, more negatively valenced trait RT was associated with worse psychological, physical, and cognitive health. More total propensity for RT was associated only with worse psychological health. Searching purpose was associated only with worse cognitive health. In turn, negatively valenced RT was predicted by poorer executive functions, suggesting that such functions may be important for directing this quality of RT. The valence of older adults' RT is important insofar as it may contribute to their sense of good or ill health. However, the propensity for all kinds of RT to associate with poorer psychological health may reflect the co-occurrence of negative and positive RT, such as rumination and emotional processing. Although RT has not been extensively investigated in older adults, it appears to play an important role in their subjective health.

Gender differences in delayed-type hypersensitivity response: effects of stress and coping in first-year law students

Law students show significant deficits in emotional and physical well-being compared with groups of students in other areas of higher education. Furthermore, evidence suggests that these effects may be worse for women than for men. The use of active coping can positively affect immunity under stress, but this may be most true for men in the context of law school. The current study examined the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin responses of first-year law students (n=121) and a comparison group (n=30). Students' health behaviors, self-evaluative emotions, and coping strategies were also reported. Male law students had larger DTH responses than females, but this gender effect was not present in the comparison group. Endorsement of perseverance under stress (n=19), an active coping strategy, moderated the gender effect on immunity. Perseverance associated with larger DTH responses and more positive self-evaluative emotion, but only among men. These results indicate that active coping may be less efficacious for women than for men in law school, which in turn may limit women's opportunities to attenuate negative effects of law school.

Caregiving, repetitive thought, and immune response to vaccination in older adults

Chronic stressors such as caregiving have been associated with reduced antibody production after vaccination and elevated interleukin (IL)-6 in older adults. However, individual differences in repetitive thought, that is, frequent or prolonged thought about oneself and one's world, can modify perception and effects of stress. For example, worry during stressful circumstances has been associated with poorer immune outcomes, whereas cognitive processing has been associated with better outcomes. The present study tested the relationship of caregiving and two types of repetitive thought, negative (e.g., worry) and neutral (e.g., reflection), to pre- and post-influenza vaccine antibody and IL-6. Dementia caregivers (n=14) and controls (n=30) were interviewed and had blood drawn pre- and post-vaccine in a multi-wave study. Multi-level models found that caregivers had higher IL-6 than controls after vaccination (t(23)=2.36, p<.05). There were several interactions between caregiver status and repetitive thought in predicting both depression and immune responses to vaccination. Among caregivers, negative repetitive thought predicted more depression and lower antibody titers, whereas neutral repetitive thought predicted less depression and higher antibody titers, but also higher post-vaccination IL-6. Among controls, negative repetitive thought predicted more depression but higher antibody titers, whereas neutral repetitive thought predicted less depression and lower post-vaccination IL-6. In mediational tests, depression did not account for the effects of repetitive thought. Results generally support beneficial effects of neutral repetitive thought and detrimental effects of negative repetitive thought, but those effects may be reduced or even reversed depending on life circumstances.

Cross-Validation of a Manual form of the Letter Memory Test Using a Known-Groups Methodology

A manual form of the Letter Memory Test (LMT: Orey, Cragar, & Berry, 2000) was compared in neuropsychological evaluees classified as honest (HON: n = 39) or probable cognitive feigners (PCF: n = 10) using results from two well-validated motivational tests. With the exception of lower educational level and higher rate of compensation seeking in the PCF, the groups were equivalent on most important demographic and injury severity parameters. PCF participants scored significantly lower on most neuropsychological tests (median Cohen's d = 1.2), as well as on the manual LMT (Cohen's d = 4.2). Operating characteristics of the manual LMT in the present sample were comparable to those reported in a similar study using the computerized version of the LMT in neuropsychiatric patients (Vagnini et al., 2006).