Perseverative Thought & Difficulty Concentrating Exhibit Bidirectional Relationship

Perseverative thought and difficulty concentrating exhibit a bidirectional relationship, where each predicts the other over time in real-world contexts, according to study results published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders.

While current theoretical models agree on the association between perseverative thought and attentional issues, they have different explanations for the exact relationship between them. In the current study, researchers focused on the “vicious cycle” model wherein perseverative thought affects attentional control and attentional control affects the ability to disengage from perseverative thought.

The researchers recruited participants from a larger study investigating perseverative thought and screened them based on their severity of repetitive thinking. The aim was to test the temporal association between perseverative thought and subjective difficulty concentrating using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) approach.

Participants completed baseline trait measures and a two-week EMA protocol involving eight surveys per day, assessing perseverative thought and difficulty concentrating at random intervals. Specifically, the researchers used the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire, and Attentional Control Scale to measure perseverative thought and attentional impairment symptoms.

Bivariate analyses showed strong positive correlations between momentary perseverative thought and difficulty concentrating (r = 0.46, P <.001). Trait perseverative thought was strongly associated with both momentary perseverative thought (r=0.41, P<.001) and difficulty concentrating (r=0.22, P<.05). Worry was also linked to these experiences but to a lesser extent. Attentional control was negatively correlated with difficulty concentrating (r=-0.21, P<.05) and perseverative thought (r=-0.51, P<.001).

Within-person concurrent models confirmed significant bidirectional associations, where difficulty concentrating predicted perseverative thought (β=.20, P<.001) and perseverative thought predicted difficulty concentrating (β=.19, P<.001). Time-lagged models supported this relationship over time; higher difficulty concentrating at time T-1 predicted increased perseverative thought at time T (β=.06, P<.001), and this effect remained significant after controlling for prior perseverative thought (β=.02, P<.001). Similarly, greater perseverative thought at time T-1 predicted more severe difficulty concentrating at time T (β=.06, P<.001), which remained significant after adjusting for prior difficulty concentrating (β=.03, P<.001).

The study authors concluded, “Findings suggest that intervening on difficulty concentrating and/or perseverative thought may reduce the ‘vicious cycle’ of perseverative thought episodes.”

Sensitivity analyses confirmed that these associations were robust to adjustments for gender and age, exclusion of outliers, and handling of missing data through multiple imputation.

This article originally appeared on Psychiatry Advisor