Brooding Rumination Research Articles

Sex differences in the association between repetitive negative thinking and neurofilament light.

Emerging evidence suggests that repetitive negative thinking (RNT; i.e., worry and ruminative brooding) is associated with biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. Given that women have a greater risk of many neurodegenerative diseases, this study investigated whether worry and brooding are associated with general neurodegeneration and whether associations differ by sex. Exploratory analyses examined whether allostatic load, a marker of chronic stress, mediates any observed relationships. Baseline data from 134 cognitively healthy older adults in the Age-Well clinical trial were utilised. Worry and brooding were assessed using questionnaires. Plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL), a biomarker of neurodegeneration, was quantified using a Meso Scale Discovery assay. We found a positive interaction between brooding and sex on NfL, with higher brooding associated with greater NfL levels in women. No associations were observed between worry/ruminative brooding and allostatic load. These results offer preliminary support that RNT is associated with worse brain health, specifically in women.

Impulsiveness in Substance Users: Metacognitive Beliefs and Repetitive Negative Thinking as Potential Maintenance Factors.

Using the self-regulatory executive function model as a basis, this study explored whether, among substance users, metacognitive beliefs and repetitive negative thinking were associated with impulsiveness. A total of 100 substance users were recruited. Impulsiveness, metacognitive beliefs, rumination and worry were assessed. Correlation and hierarchal regression analyses were run. Beliefs about the need to control thoughts, lower cognitive self-consciousness and brooding rumination were found to be independent predictors of the total score on impulsiveness in the hierarchical regression analysis. Further regression analyses indicated that motor impulsiveness was predicted by a combination of beliefs about the need to control thoughts and brooding rumination, while non-planning impulsiveness was predicted by beliefs about the need to control thoughts and lower cognitive self-consciousness. Among substance users, higher impulsiveness is associated with the tendency to endorse beliefs about the need to control thoughts and brooding rumination. Among substance users, beliefs about the need to control thoughts and brooding rumination (and potentially cognitive self-consciousness) could be a suitable therapeutic targets to mitigate particularly motor impulsiveness and non-planning impulsiveness.

A structural equation model analysis of the relationships between career indecision, sense of control, self-efficacy, rumination and depression in high school students

This study examined the links between career-decision making and mental health. Levels of career indecision, rumination, general self-efficacy, sense of control, and depression in 275 high school students were assessed. Anonymous responses to five valid and reliable scales were analysed using structural equation modelling. A conceptual model was postulated and tested for goodness of fit. The results yielded that perceived external constraints acted as a significant mediator between career indecision and depression. Ruminative brooding significantly moderated the link between career indecision and perceived external constraints. The structural equation analysis on the adjusted model demonstrated an overall good model fit. The study highlights the intricate linkages and effects between students’ career decision making, thinking patterns, perceptions of external barriers, and mental health. Levels of depression and career indecision are heightened in the present study. The mechanistic model and associated findings of the study support the necessity of providing targeted interventions for high school students that concurrently address mental health concerns alongside career-decision making, whilst also ameliorating problems associated with self-efficacy, perceived barriers, and negative thought patterns.

Associations of early adversity and negative emotionality with emerging adult latent internalizing

BackgroundEarly adversity (EA) predicts later internalizing, and trait diatheses also play a role in how this risk manifests. However, research is mixed on whether these factors function independently or interactively. Furthermore, recent work questions whether three trait diatheses thought to be distinct—neuroticism, dysfunctional attitudes, and brooding rumination—may be modeled as a single latent negative emotionality factor. The present study tests if brooding rumination and dysfunctional attitudes are better modeled with neuroticism as part of negative emotionality, as opposed to separate constructs, and whether negative emotionality and EA interact to predict latent internalizing or operate independently. Methods768 emerging adults (71.1% minoritized race/ethnicity) completed self-report surveys for this study. Latent moderated structural equation models were conducted to test associations between EA, trait diatheses, and internalizing. ResultsBrooding rumination and dysfunctional attitudes were best modeled as latent factors separate from—but highly correlated with—latent neuroticism. Latent trait diatheses and EA did not significantly interact to predict internalizing symptoms; however, there were significant main effects of latent brooding rumination and neuroticism. Although EA and dysfunctional attitudes had significant associations with internalizing when examined alone, their effects were negligible once neuroticism and brooding rumination were included in models. ConclusionsOur findings suggest neuroticism most strongly confers risk for internalizing, which may help to inform preventive intervention efforts.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL PAIN, RUMINATION AND SUICIDE AND ACNE SEVERITY IN ACNE VULGARIS PATIENTS

Objective: Acne vulgaris is among dermatological diseases that increase suicide risk significantly. We aimed to investigate the relationship between suicide risk and acne severity, psychological pain, and especially brooding rumination in 18-36 year old acne vulgaris patients. Material and Methods: Our study was conducted with 103 acne vulgaris patients and 87 healthy controls. Study data were collected with a Socio-demographic Data Form, Global Acne Scoring System (GASS), Suicide Probability Scale (SPS), Psychological Pain Scale (PPS), Rumination Response Scale – Short Form (RRS-SF), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results: It was determined that median brooding rumination, total SPS scores and Hopelesness, hostility subscale scores were statistically significantly higher in the patient group (p values; 0.035, 0.006, 0.032, 0.007). In the patient group, the analysis of the correlations between the GASS and scale scores when the BDI score is controlled demonstrated that there were weak positive correlations between SPS despair and hostility subscale scores and total SPS score and PPS and brooding rumination scores (p: 0.003; r: 0.270), (p:0.014; r: 0.218), (p:0.010; r:0.229),(p:<0.001; r:0.389), (p:0.001, r: 0.304), (p:0.010; r:0.229). It was determined that brooding rumination, PPS and GASS scores contributed significantly to the multiple linear regression model structured estimate of the total SPS score. Conclusion: Since the suicidal risk of acne patients with acne who present to dermatology clinics could be high, it is important to follow up these patients with the psychiatry clinic, and in addition to acne treatment, therapeutic interventions that aim to reduce ruminative ideation and psychological pain could significantly contribute to the reduction of suicide risk.

Coupled changes between ruminating thoughts and resting-state brain networks during the transition into adulthood.

Perseverative negative thoughts, known as rumination, might arise from emotional challenges and preclude mental health when transitioning into adulthood. Due to its multifaceted nature, rumination can take several ruminative response styles, that diverge in manifestations, severity, and mental health outcomes. Still, prospective ruminative phenotypes remain elusive insofar. Longitudinal study designs are ideal for stratifying ruminative response styles, especially with resting-state functional MRI whose setup naturally elicits people's ruminative traits. Here, we considered self-rated questionnaires on rumination and psychopathology, along with resting-state functional MRI data in 595 individuals assessed at age 18 and 22 from the IMAGEN cohort. We conducted independent component analysis to characterize eight single static resting-state functional networks in each subject and session and furthermore conducted a dynamic analysis, tackling the time variations of functional networks during the entire scanning time. We then investigated their longitudinal mediation role between changes in three ruminative response styles (reflective pondering, brooding, and depressive rumination) and changes in internalizing and co-morbid externalizing symptoms. Four static and two dynamic networks longitudinally differentiated these ruminative styles and showed complemental sensitivity to internalizing and co-morbid externalizing symptoms. Among these networks, the right frontoparietal network covaried with all ruminative styles but did not play any mediation role towards psychopathology. The default mode, the salience, and the limbic networks prospectively stratified these ruminative styles, suggesting that maladaptive ruminative styles are associated with altered corticolimbic function. For static measures, only the salience network played a longitudinal causal role between brooding rumination and internalizing symptoms. Dynamic measures highlighted the default-mode mediation role between the other ruminative styles and co-morbid externalizing symptoms. In conclusion, we identified the ruminative styles' psychometric and neural outcome specificities, supporting their translation into applied research on young adult mental healthcare.

Does rumination moderate the effect of attention bias modification for depressive symptoms?

BackgroundCurrent treatment of major depressive disorders still leave many patients with modest improvement. Attention Bias Modification (ABM) is an approach that may serve as an adjuvant therapy for subgroups of patients. We examined whether rumination, often found to be associated with a negative attentional bias, acts as a moderating variable in a computerized ABM procedure in participants with recurrent depression. MethodsA total of 301 patients were randomized to receive either active - or sham ABM twice daily for 14 days. A regression-based moderator analysis was applied to evaluate whether baseline brooding, from the Rumination Response Scale (RRS-B), moderated the effect of ABM on Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II). ResultsThere was no significant interaction effect of ABM and RRS-B on HDRS or BDI-II at post-intervention or at 1 month follow-up. In addition, no correlation was found for pre-training attention bias and RRS-B. Limitations: Generalizability is limited to individuals with non-clinical symptom scores. ConclusionsThere was no moderator effect of brooding rumination on clinical depression scales in the largest clinical study on ABM to date.

The Social Comparison Rumination Scale: Development, Psychometric Properties, and Associations With Perfectionism, Narcissism, Burnout, and Distress.

In the current article, we describe the development and validation of the Social Comparison Rumination Scale. This measured was developed as a supplement to existing social comparison measures and to enable us to determine its potential relevance to perfectionism and other personality constructs. The Social Comparison Rumination Scale (SCRS) is a six-item inventory assessing the extent to which an individual is cognitively preoccupied and thinking repetitively about social comparison outcomes and information. Three studies with five samples of university students are described. Psychometric analyses established the SCRS consists of one factor assessed with high internal consistency and the measure is reliable and valid. Analyses showed that elevated levels of social comparison rumination are associated with trait perfectionism, perfectionistic automatic thoughts, perfectionistic self-presentation, ruminative brooding, burnout, depression, and fear of negative evaluation. Links were also established between social comparison rumination and both narcissism and dispositional envy. Overall, our findings support the further use of the SCRS and highlight the tendency of many people to think in deleterious ways about social comparisons long after the actual comparisons have taken place. We discuss social comparison rumination within the context of concerns about excessive social media use and young people being exposed to seemingly perfect lives that became a vexing cognitive preoccupation.

Worry and ruminative brooding: associations with cognitive and physical health in older adults.

Mental health conditions are associated with cognition and physical function in older adults. We examined whether worry and ruminative brooding, key symptoms of certain mental health conditions, are related to subjective and/or objective measures of cognitive and physical (cardiovascular) health. We used baseline data from 282 participants from the SCD-Well and Age-Well trials (178 female; agemean = 71.1 years). We measured worry and ruminative brooding using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and the Ruminative Response Scale-brooding subscale. We assessed subjective physical health using the WHOQOL-Bref physical subscale, and objective physical health via blood pressure and modified versions of the Framingham Risk Score and Charlson Comorbidity Index. With subjective and objective cognition, we utilized the Cognitive Difficulties Scale and a global composite (modified Preclinical Alzheimer's Cognitive Composite, PACC5, with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV, category fluency, Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-2, and either the California Verbal Learning Test or the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test). We conducted linear regressions, adjusted for education, age, sex and cohort. Worry and ruminative brooding were negatively associated with subjective physical health (worry: β = -0.245, 95%CI -0.357 to -0.133, p < 0.001; ruminative brooding: β = -0.224, 95%CI -0.334 to -0.113, p < 0.001) and subjective cognitive difficulties (worry: β = 0.196, 95%CI 0.091 to 0.302, p < 0.001; ruminative brooding: β = 0.239, 95%CI 0.133 to 0.346, p < 0.001). We did not observe associations between worry or ruminative brooding and any measure of objective health. Worry and ruminative brooding may be common mechanisms associated with subjective but not objective health. Alternatively, cognitively unimpaired older adults may become aware of subtle changes not captured by objective measures used in this study. Interventions reducing worry and ruminative brooding may promote subjective physical and cognitive health; however, more research is needed to determine causality of the relationships.

EMOTIONAL CO-REGULATION IN YOUNGER AND OLDER COUPLES’ DAILY LIVES: THE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AVAILABILITY

Abstract Close relationships represent an important context for aging. Romantic partners can provide important resources for day-to-day individual and relational functioning by regulating their emotions together. Emotional co-regulation attempts are, however, not always successful and may depend on situational factors such as psychological availability, i.e., an individual’s current ability to be open and attentive to their partner’s needs. The present study examined emotional co-regulation in the daily lives of younger (N=62; 18-33 years) and older (N=56; 57-87 years) couples, focusing on the particular role of psychological availability. In a 21-day experience-sampling study, both participating partners reported their momentary emotional experiences, perceived psychological availability, relationship quality and (co)-regulation strategies three times a day. Results from dyadic multilevel modeling revealed that older and younger participants did not differ in the strategies they used to regulate their own and their partners emotions, but older couples showed greater emotional synchrony (i.e., coordinated changes between partners’ emotional experiences) throughout the study. When partners experienced greater psychological availability, they used more adaptive (e.g., positive humor, responsive touch) and fewer maladaptive (e.g., ruminative brooding) emotion regulation strategies. They also experienced more positive emotions and greater relationship quality when they were more psychologically available, and these associations were particularly evident among younger couples. The findings suggest that older partners were more attuned to each other’s emotions, but that their co-regulation depended less on psychological availability. This potentially speaks to more automatic co-regulation among older couples and opens the door for further investigations of situational factors that impact successful co-regulation.

A cross-cultural look at the role of rumination in the relationship between trait anxiety and romantic breakup distress

Romantic breakups are considered ”normative” events because of their high prevalence, but they can also be stressful, and even traumatic experiences. Although there is an increasing interest in studying romantic breakups, there are few studies proposing mechanisms that turn a romantic breakup into a health problem. Based upon existing literature, we chose rumination as a mediator between trait anxiety and breakup distress. In addition, given that culture plays a significant role in both grief response and the process of rumination, we expected rumination plays a differential role in mediating the relationship between trait anxiety and breakup distress across Argentinian and North American samples, although we did not specify a moderation hypothesis due to absence of previous antecedents in the literature. To set a firm measurement foundation, we initially evaluated measurement invariance prior to testing substantive models. 415 Argentinians (78% female) and 383 USA (66% female) students who experienced a romantic breakup were recruited. Several measurement adjustments were needed to support metric invariance for the items. The indirect effect involving brooding rumination between the trait anxiety and breakup distress was significant in both countries, and not significantly different between the countries. Rumination thinking was shown as a full cross-cultural mediator of the relationship between trait anxiety and breakup distress in both countries. Our results could point at a starting point to think of rumination as a cross-culturally invariant mechanism explaining why insecure individuals (i.e., high trait anxiety) tend to suffer more during a breakup compared to less anxious individuals.

Associations between ruminative brooding and white matter change amongst healthy middle‐aged and older adults

AbstractBackgroundRepetitive Negative Thinking (RNT) includes negative thoughts about the future (worry) and past (ruminative brooding). RNT has been associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology (Marchant et al. Alzheimers Dement. 2020;16(7)) and different patterns of functional connectivity of the triple network of attention, namely, the default mode, executive control and anterior salience networks (Solé‐Padullés et al. Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14). However, the association between RNT and white matter microstructure is unclear (Demnitz‐King et al. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2021;316) and no existing studies have examined this association longitudinally among non‐clinical adults.MethodHealthy adults (age range: 50‐70, 51.2% women) from the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative (Cattaneo et al. Front Aging Neurosci. 2018 11;10) completed the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ), Rumination Response Scale (RRS), and Penn‐State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) at baseline to measure RNT levels. Participants underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with T1 and T2‐weighted acquisitions to assess volume of white matter hypointensities (WMH) at baseline (N = 588) and two years later (N = 425). Change in WMH was computed taking into account time interval between scans. Stepwise linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate associations between change in WMH and baseline age, sex, PTQ, PSWQ and RRS subscale scores (brooding, reflection and depression).ResultBaseline age (t = 3.71, p&lt;0.0001) and brooding (t = 2.82, p = 0.005) were associated with increased WMH across scans (see partial regression plots, Fig 1A/B). No cross‐sectional associations were observed between volume of WMH and RNT‐related variables.ConclusionBrooding was associated with increase of WMH in healthy adults. Brooding, a maladaptive form of emotion regulation, enhances repetitive focus on one’s distress and is associated with altered connectivity of attentional networks and greater asymmetry of the Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus in depressed adults (Pisner et al. Neuroimage Clin. 2019;24). Our results are of importance considering that: WMH correlate with CSF‐amyloid in cognitively unimpaired older adults (Wei et al. Brain Behav. 2019;9(12)) and this is the first longitudinal study focusing on white matter change as related to psychological variables linked to cognitive decline and AD‐related pathology. The putative impact of psychological factors on brain integrity can be detected even at sub‐clinical levels and in earlier stages within the dementia continuum.

Rumination in bipolar disorder associated with brain network and behavioural measures of inhibitory executive control.

Rumination is a passive form of negative self-focused cognition that predicts depressive episodes for individuals with bipolar disorder (BD). Individuals with BD also have impaired inhibitory executive control; rumination in BD may therefore reflect executive dysfunction. We investigated the relationship between a neural measure of executive functioning (functional connectivity between the frontoparietal control network [FPCN] and the default mode network [DMN] during an effortful task), behavioural measures of executive functioning (the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function) and rumination (the Ruminative Responses Scale). Fifteen individuals with BD and fifteen healthy controls underwent MRI scans during mental distraction. Using CONN toolbox, between-network FPCN-DMN connectivity values were calculated. We conducted Pearson's r bivariate correlations between connectivity values, BRIEF and RRS scores. RRS scores were positively correlated with BRIEF Behavioral Regulation Index (BRI) scores. In individuals with BD, there was a positive correlation between FPCN-DMN functional connectivity during distraction and BRIEF BRI scores. FPCN-DMN functional connectivity was also positively correlated with RRS ruminative brooding scores. Healthy controls did not show significant correlations between these behavioural and neural measures of executive functioning and rumination. For individuals with BD, the greater the tendency to ruminate and the higher the executive dysfunction, the stronger the connectivity between an executive control network and a network involved in rumination during an unrelated cognitive task. This could reflect continual attempts to inhibit ruminative thinking and shift back to the distraction task. Therefore, engagement in rumination may reflect failed inhibitory executive control.

Patterns of life stress and the development of ruminative brooding in adolescence: A person-centered approach.

Research links life stressors, including acute, chronic, and early life stress, to the development of ruminative brooding. However, singular forms of life stress rarely occur in isolation, as adolescents typically encounter stressors that vary on important dimensions (e.g., types, timings, quantities) across development. The current study employs latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify natural clusters of life stress that, over time, may be differently associated with ruminative brooding. Evaluations of episodic, chronic, and early life stress were conducted with community-recruited mid-adolescents (N = 241, Mage = 15.90 years, 53% female) and their parents using the UCLA Life Stress Interview and lifetime adversity portions of the Youth Life Stress Interview. Analyses identified four distinct patterns: low stress, high peer stress, moderate home / family stress, and multifaceted / high school stress. Adolescents in the high peer stress and moderate home / family stress profiles were at highest risk for developing a brooding style over time. Despite high overall levels of stress, teens in the multifaceted / high school stress profile were at not at elevated risk for developing a brooding style. Findings demonstrate the utility of person-centered approaches to identify patterns of stress exposure that heighten risk for brooding over time.

Crying over spilled milk? A network analysis of aversive well-being comparison, brooding rumination and depressive symptoms

BackgroundComparative thinking about one's well-being is ubiquitous. Comparisons that threaten an individual's self-motives are aversive and interact with rumination and depression. Aversive well-being comparisons include upward social, past temporal, counterfactual, and criteria-based comparisons, as well as downward prospective temporal comparisons. Although the frequency, discrepancy, and affective impact of aversive comparison total scores have been associated with brooding rumination and depression, no study has investigated the interaction of specific comparison standards (e.g., social or counterfactual) with symptom cascades of brooding and depressive symptoms. MethodsTo examine this interaction, we conducted network analyses on the interplay between aversive well-being comparisons, brooding rumination, and depression. Specifically, we conducted a cross-sectional study in N = 500 dysphoric individuals and a longitudinal study in N = 921 participants at two timepoints, three months apart. Participants completed measures of depression, brooding, and the Comparison Standards Scale for Well-being, which assessed the frequency, perceived discrepancy, and affective impact of aversive well-being comparisons. ResultsFeelings of worthlessness emerged as the most central attribute in the networks of the dysphoric sample. Longitudinally, brooding and depressive symptoms predicted aversive comparisons, but not the other way around, which accounted for social and other-referent counterfactual comparisons to a greater degree than for other comparison types. LimitationsWe used nonclinical samples. ConclusionsThe findings highlight the critical role of comparison standards in depression. Further research is warranted to detect potential intervention targets for mitigating negative effects of negative self-evaluation.

The Relative Importance of Internal Cognitive Processes in Explaining Depressive Symptoms in University Students

ABSTRACT Depression is a common reason university students seek counseling. Various internal cognitive processes are risk factors for college students’ depression (e.g., anxiety, stress level, inability to manage stressors, brooding rumination, and self-deprecating thoughts). We used dominance analyses to determine the relative contribution of each internal cognitive process in explaining depressive symptoms, which process was most important, and whether any process completely dominated other processes. Self-report data were collected from 5,033 ethnically-diverse university students (18-25 years). Women (compared to men) reported significantly higher depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress level, inability to manage stressors, brooding, and self-deprecation. The combination of internal cognitive processes accounted for substantial variance in depressive symptoms in women and men. Each internal cognitive process made unique contributions, although complete dominance was not found. The order of relative contribution from most important to least important follows: generalized anxiety, inability to manage stressors, self-deprecation, stress level, and brooding rumination.

Comparison of binge-eating disorder and food addiction

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, binge-eating disorder (BED) is classified as episodes of binge eating while not being hungry, eating too fast until feeling uncomfortably full, or eating in solitude with feelings of shame and disgust after eating, without compensatory mechanisms. The controversial disorder food addiction (FA) is characterized by overconsumption, cravings, failure to cut down on amounts of food, and withdrawal and tolerance to overeating. In this narrative review, we aimed to comprehensively characterize and compare BED and FA. We searched PubMed using the keywords "binge-eating disorder" and "food addiction." We finally included 51 publications according to topic specificity, credibility, the authors' reputation, and non-bias criteria. BED is characterized by concerns about dietary issues, body shape, and weight as well as depressive symptoms and brooding rumination. FA can be divided into substance addiction and behavioral addiction, which can be differentiated using a list of criteria including hunger, taste, pleasure, function of food, loss of social connections, weight concerns, and awareness about the disorder. Further research is needed to further characterize and distinguish BED and FA.

Attentional Bias Among High and Low Ruminators: Eye Tracking Study in a Non-Clinical Population

Rumination, which can be studied through its associated attentional biases, and is a part of the RDoC Negative Valence Systems constructs of Loss, has been proposed as a key transdiagnostic feature in depression. The current study uses eye tracking measurements to explore how different levels of brooding and reflection rumination interact with attentional biases in a non-clinical sample of high and low ruminators. Methodology: 123 adults were administered questionnaires of rumination, depression and participated in passive viewing task in which they watched sets of angry, happy, sad and neutral faces, while their eye movements were tracked. Findings indicate greater sustained attention toward sad and angry faces and away from happy faces among non-clinical individuals with high levels of brooding rumination, even when controlling for depression scores. The study adds further evidence that brooding rumination and attentional biases to negative stimuli are associated with one another. Behavioral parameters such as attention bias to help us to distinguish high ruminators among non-clinical sample.

Special Report: Autism Spectrum Disorder and Inflexible Thinking—Affecting Patients Across the Lifespan

Special Report: Autism Spectrum Disorder and Inflexible Thinking—Affecting Patients Across the Lifespan

Aversive well-being comparisons in dysphoria and the role of brooding rumination.

Individuals frequently engage in comparisons on how they are doing relative to different standards. According to the general comparative-processing model, comparisons can be perceived as aversive (appraised as threatening the motives of the comparer) or appetitive (appraised as consonant with, or positively challenging the motives). Research indicates that aversive comparisons are associated with depression. We hypothesize that aversive comparisons play a significant role in the relationship between brooding rumination and depression. Drawing on central propositions of control theory that discrepancies instigate rumination, we investigated the mediating role of brooding rumination in this relationship. Reflecting the different directionality, we also examined whether well-being comparisons mediate the relationship between brooding rumination and depression. Dysphoric participants (N=500) were administered measures of depression and brooding rumination, and the Comparison Standards Scale for Well-being. The latter assesses aversive social, temporal, counterfactual, and criteria-based comparisons regarding their (a) frequency, (b) perceived discrepancy to the standard, and (c) engendered affective valence. The relationship between the frequency of aversive comparisons with depression was partially accounted for by comparison discrepancy and engendered affective valence and brooding rumination. The relationship between rumination and depression was partially mediated by sequential comparison processes. Longitudinal research needs to unravel the underlying directionality of the relationship between depression, brooding, and comparison. Relevant clinical implications of well-being comparison are discussed.