Co-Rumination and Co–Problem Solving in the Daily Lives of Adolescents With Major Depressive Disorder

Abstract

This study examines differences in the prevalence and nature of co-rumination during real-world social interactions with peers and parents among adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) compared to healthy controls. A total of 60 youth (29with current MDD and 31 controls without psychopathology) completed a self-report measure of co-rumination and a 3-week ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol that measured the nature of face-to-face social interactions with peers and parents after a negative event in the adolescents' daily lives. Specifically, EMA was used to assess rates of problem talk, including both co-rumination and co-problem solving. Group differences in self-report and EMA measures were examined. Adolescents with MDD reported co-ruminating more often than adolescents with no Axis 1 disorders during daily interactions with both parents (Cohen's d= 0.78) and peers (d= 1.14), and also reported more co-rumination via questionnaire (d= 0.58). Adolescents with MDD engaged in co-problem solving with peers less often than did healthy controls (d= 0.78), but no group differences werefound for rates of co-problem solving with parents. Results are consistent with previous research linking co-rumination and depression in adolescence and extend theseself-report-based findings to assessment in an ecologically valid context. Importantly, theresults support that MDD youth tend to co-ruminate more and to problem-solve less withpeersintheirdaily lives compared to healthy youth, and that co-rumination also extendstoparentalrelationships. Interventions focused on decreasing co-rumination with peersandparents andimproving problem-solving skills with peers may be helpful forpreventingandtreatingadolescent depression.