Co-rumination and Lifetime History of Depressive Disorders in Children

Abstract

Co-rumination, the social process of frequently discussing and rehashing problems with peers, is hypothesized to increase risk for depression, particularly for girls. Although there is growing evidence for a relation between co-rumination and depressive symptoms in youth, it remains unclear whether these results generalize to diagnosable episodes of depression. Using a retrospective behavioral high-risk design with 81 children aged 9 to 14 years, we tested the hypothesis that children currently exhibiting high levels of co-rumination would be more likely to have a history of depressive diagnoses than children with low levels of co-rumination. The results supported this hypothesis. In addition, the link between co-rumination and history of depressive diagnoses was maintained even when we excluded children with current diagnoses and statistically controlled for children's current depressive symptoms, suggesting that the relation is not due simply to current levels of depression.

Support for this research was provided by the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation awarded to D. J. Uhrlass and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant R03 HD048664 awarded to B. E. Gibb.

Notes

¹Results for analyses conducted without mother MDD history included as a covariate were almost identical to those reported, and in no case did the pattern of significant results differ.

²Data reported in the current article were part of a larger project examining depression and social phobia in children. Although not a specific focus of the current study, we should note that 10 children in our sample had a lifetime history of social phobia, 4 of whom also met criteria for a depressive diagnoses (2 currently depressed). We should note, however, that children's levels of co-rumination were not significantly related to their lifetime history of social phobia, Wald = .50, p = .48, OR = 1.29 (95% CI: .63, 2.64), and the relation between co-rumination and children's histories of depressive disorders was maintained even after omitting the 10 children who met criteria for social phobia, Wald = 3.85, p = .05, OR = 2.19 (95% CI: 1.01, 4.81). Therefore, the current results do not appear to have been due to the presence of comorbid social phobia.