Unsuccessful suppression is associated with increased neuroticism, intrusive thoughts, and rumination

• Unsuccessful suppressors report more intrusive thoughts, rumination and neuroticism.
• Successful suppressors report more intrusive thoughts than non-suppressors.
• Successful suppressors and non-suppressors do not vary in neuroticism or rumination.

Studies of thought suppression, the reduction in accessibility for intentionally unrehearsed and actively avoided thoughts, vary dramatically in the level of suppression reported. The purpose of our research was to explore individual differences associated with self-reports of the success, failure, or avoidance of thought suppression in everyday life. Participants completed a survey measuring intrusive thoughts, neuroticism, rumination, and autobiographical knowledge of suppression tendencies and capabilities. Individuals who reported successful suppression were less neurotic, ruminative, and experienced less thought intrusion than individuals who reported unsuccessful suppression attempts. Our findings suggest that the high-ends of the neuroticism and intrusive thought spectrums are occupied by individuals who unsuccessfully attempt to suppress undesirable information, while successful suppressors differ minimally from non-suppressors.