The Role of Differentiation of Self in Predicting Rumination and Emotion Regulation Difficulties

Abstract

The present study examined the predictive power of differentiation of self on rumination and emotion regulation difficulties. The participants (n = 300), all aged over 26, responded to a personal information form, the Differentiation of Self Scale, a ruminative thought style questionnaire, and a difficulties in emotion regulation scale. The sample consisted of 182 female and 118 male adults. The results indicated that the female participants were more emotionally reactive compared to their male counterparts and that parents had higher scores of emotional reactivity than childless participants. There was a non-significant relationship between differentiation of self and age. Also, regarding differentiation of self, there was no significant difference between participants who were in a relationship and those who were not. The differentiation of self scores accounted for 24% of the variance in the ruminative thought style scores and 39% of the variance in the emotion regulation difficulty scores. The results of the study indicated that differentiation of self was a crucial in influencing both rumination and emotion regulation difficulties. These results suggest that clinicians working with clients who experience emotion regulation difficulties in ruminative thinking or who demonstrate various symptoms due to it should treat these clients’ levels of differentiation of self as a facilitating factor in the therapy and treatment process.