Brooding moderates the link between reappraisal and inhibition of negative information

The ability to inhibit negative information is associated with emotion regulation (ER). Reduced inhibition of negative information characterises poor ER, which in turn plays a critical role in psychopathology. People engage in multiple ER strategies; some are harmful and others are helpful. However, the interaction between harmful and helpful ER strategies and its link to inhibition of negative information have not been explored. This study examined the joint association between reappraisal, an adaptive ER strategy, and brooding, a maladaptive ER strategy, with inhibition of negative information. Participant's high (N = 81) and low (N = 47) in brooding completed a measure of habitual reappraisal as well as the negative affective priming task, a measure of inhibition bias. As predicted, reappraisal was positively linked with the ability to inhibit negative content. However, this link was moderated by brooding and was found only among low brooders but not among high brooders. The implications of these findings to theories of ER are discussed.