Negative Life Events and Psychological Distress: The Mediating Role of Thought Suppression

This study aimed to examine the mediating role of thought suppression in the relationship between negative life events and psychological distress in a South African adult population. A descriptive correlational design was employed with 423 participants selected based on Morgan and Krejcie's sampling guidelines. Participants completed three standardized instruments: the Life Events Checklist for DSM-5 (LEC-5) to assess exposure to negative life events, the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI) to measure thought suppression, and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) to evaluate psychological distress. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated using SPSS-27 to examine bivariate relationships, while structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted in AMOS-21 to test the hypothesized mediating model and assess model fit. Pearson correlation results revealed significant positive associations among negative life events, thought suppression, and psychological distress (r = .41 to .52, p < .001). SEM analysis confirmed that thought suppression partially mediated the relationship between negative life events and psychological distress. The direct effect of negative life events on psychological distress was significant (β = .33, p < .001), as was the path from negative life events to thought suppression (β = .41, p < .001), and from thought suppression to psychological distress (β = .39, p < .001). The indirect effect of negative life events on psychological distress through thought suppression was also significant (β = .16, p < .001). Model fit indices indicated a good fit (χ²/df = 2.37, CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.056, TLI = 0.94). The findings highlight thought suppression as a significant cognitive mechanism that partially explains the link between life adversity and psychological distress. Interventions targeting maladaptive cognitive strategies such as suppression may be essential for mitigating distress, particularly in high-adversity sociocultural contexts.