Distinguishing between level and impact of rumination as predictors of depressive symptoms: An experience sampling study

Abstract

Rumination—repetitively thinking about one's emotional state, its causes and consequences—exacerbates negative mood and plays an important role in the aetiology and maintenance of depression. Yet, it is unclear whether increased vulnerability to depression is associated with simply how much a person ruminates, or the short-term impact rumination has on a person's negative mood. In the current study, we distinguish between the level versus the impact of rumination, and we examine how each uniquely predicts changes in depressive symptoms over time in an undergraduate sample. Using experience sampling, we assessed students’ (N = 101) subjective experiences of positive and negative affect and their use of rumination and distraction in daily life for seven days. Participants also reported their depressive symptoms before and after the experience sampling. Increases in depressive symptoms over the week were predicted by how much people ruminated, but not by its impact on negative mood.

Keywords:

• Rumination
• Negative affect
• Depressive symptoms
• Distraction
• Positive affect
• Experience sampling

We are grateful to Jasmien Stevens for her help with the data collection.

This research was supported by KU Leuven Research Council [grant numbers OT/11/031 and GOA/10/02], and by a grant from the FWO to the final author.

We are grateful to Jasmien Stevens for her help with the data collection.

This research was supported by KU Leuven Research Council [grant numbers OT/11/031 and GOA/10/02], and by a grant from the FWO to the final author.

Notes

¹ Several other trait questionnaires were administered during the initial lab session. These were not analysed for the current report.

² The last day of the ESM involved an experimental manipulation that is not reported in the current study. We report data exclusively from the first 7 days of the ESM. No other manipulations were administered.

³ Additional analyses testing the opposite cross-lagged associations (i.e., affect predicting changes in rumination or distraction) revealed significant associations among all variables, indicating that rumination (B _NA = 0.19, SE = 0.02, p < .001; B _PA = –0.10, SE = 0.02, p < .001) and distraction (B _NA = 0.17, SE = 0.02, p < .001; B _PA = –0.08, SE = 0.02, p < .001) were bi-directionally associated with PA and NA.

⁴ We also examined the interactive effects between the level and the impact of rumination or distraction on change in depression. None of the interactions were significant, however (ps > .32).