The Effects of Experiential Avoidance and Rumination on Depression among College Students

Abstract

The article reports the results of three studies that compare the effects of experiential avoidance and rumination on depression among college students. Study 1 (N = 748) evaluated the cross-sectional association among rumination, experiential avoidance, and depression. Study 2 (N = 887) was a replication of Study 1. In Study 3, a subsample of 72 females was drawn from the larger sample of Study 1. In this prospective, longitudinal study, it was estimated whether rumination and experiential avoidance at Time 1 (the beginning of the semester) predicted depression symptoms 8 to 12 weeks later. When these constructs were measured crosssectionally in Studies 1 and 2, an interaction effect was found between avoidance and rumination; avoidance was only associated with depression symptoms when rumination was high. No interaction was found in the longitudinal study. Neither rumination nor experiential avoidance predicted depression symptoms at Time 2 when depression symptoms at Time 1 were entered as a covariate. These results are discussed with reference to future directions in comparing different dimensions of coping as they relate to depression. During the last few decades, substantial research has been conducted in an effort to identify predictors of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and to understand the etiology of the disorder. At least one goal of this research was to design preventative interventions and effective treatments for the disorder. The growing literature on coping mechanisms has been an important resource for this research. The construct of “coping” can be defined as the ways in which a person responds to stressors (Skinner, Edge, Altman, & Sherwood, 2003). There is widespread consensus that certain cop