Differential association of response inhibition and attentional inhibition with rumination: Latent variable approach to subcomponents of inhibition

Response inhibition and attentional inhibition are subcomponents of inhibition (Tiego, Testa, Bellgrove, Pantelis, & Whittle, 2018). Response inhibition deficits are known to be positively associated with trait rumination (Hasegawa, Matsumoto, Yamashita, Tanaka, Kawaguchi, & Yamamoto, 2022a; Hasegawa, Somatori, Nishimura, Hattori, & Kunisato, 2021; Shimony, Einav, Bonne, Jordan, Van Vleet, & Nahum, 2021). Also, this association is mediated by increases in aggressive behaviors and negative interpersonal events (Hasegawa et al., 2022a). On the other hand, attentional inhibition deficits are not significantly associated with rumination (Hasegawa et al., 2022a; Nishimura, Hasegawa, Nishiguchi, Tabuchi, Matsumoto, Masuyama, Oi, Fukui, Oikawa, Tanno, & Mochizuki, 2022), or negatively associated with trait rumination (Altamirano, Miyake, & Whitmer, 2010). These findings suggest the functions and distinctions of the subcomponents of inhibition and why some people tend to ruminate. However, a previous study comparing the association of response inhibition and attentional inhibition with rumination had the limitation of assessing subcomponents of inhibition through individual task performances rather than latent variables (Hasegawa et al., 2022a). In addition, although previous studies have indicated that the relationship between response inhibition deficits and rumination might be mediated by stress generation (Hasegawa et al., 2021, 2022a), these studies did not use a measure to specifically assess negative event categories in the context of stress generation. Therefore, the current study will examine differences in the association with rumination between latent variables of response inhibition and attentional inhibition. Before the primary analyses, this study plan to explore a model assuming that inhibition is divided into two subcomponents because the classification of inhibition and executive function, which is the higher-level construct of inhibition, is still being debated (Friedman & Miyake, 2004, 2017; Rey-Mermet, Gade, & Oberauer, 2018; Tiego et al., 2018). In addition, this study will examine the assumed indirect association between response inhibition deficits and trait rumination via aggressive behaviors and negative interpersonal dependent events using a measure for specifically assessing event categories in the context of stress generation.