The Perseverative Cognition Hypothesis: Testing the Effects of Worry and Rumination on Eating and Alcohol Consumption

Within the stress literature, an important string of recent studies have revealed that, even in instances where a physical stressor is absent, the cognitive representation alone can be enough to induce a physiological stress response, which, when prolonged, has been shown to increase the likelihood of stress-related diseases. This cognitive tendency, coined the preservative cognition hypothesis, has now been subject to much academic attention resulting in recent meta-analyses which report it as a significant influence on somatic health and wellbeing. However, despite this, few studies have attempted to combat the negative effects of perseveration on health outcomes and none thus far have attempted to develop an intervention that may aid this process. In addition, it appears surprising that those studies published to date, few, if any, consider the impact of well-established personality traits in behaviour change models.

Therefore, the project aims to conduct a series of novel studies to unpick the theoretical underpinnings linking preservative cognition and health behaviours while also accounting for personality factors that may moderate behaviour change. Ultimately, built upon previous work within the Laboratory for Stress and Health, the PhD aims to develop a stress management support tool to help reduce daily preservative cognition and postpone cognitive worry and their corresponding effects on behaviours that have been liked to negative health outcomes (over/under eating & alcohol consumption).