Levels Of Co-rumination Research Articles

Understanding Gender Differences in Co-Rumination and Confidant Choice in Young Adults

Expanding rumination to an interpersonal context, the construct of co-rumination has garnered interest as an additional factor that explains gender differences in depression. To date, co-rumination has been primarily examined in adolescent and preadolescent samples and within the context of same-sex friendships. This approach may not effectively capture co-rumination in young adults, who have more diverse social networks than adolescents. As an extension of co-rumination research, we not only asked college students (N = 283, 168 females) to report on levels of co-rumination with a same-sex best friend but also on levels of co-rumination with their self-identified closest confidant. We administered the two corumination questionnaires at separate times along with the BDI-II. The results indicated that compared to men, women were less likely to choose cross-sex friends as their closest confidants. College men reported higher levels of co-rumination with female friends. Women tended to co-ruminate at the same levels regardless of their relationship to their primary confidant. These results have important implications for measuring co-rumination in young adults and indicate that, for men, co-ruminating varies according to their relationship to their primary confidant.

Intrapersonal moderators of the association between relationship satisfaction and depressive symptoms

In a sample of 484 emerging adults in dating relationships, we tested whether four intrapersonal characteristics (masculinity, femininity, neuroticism, and co-rumination) moderated the association between relationship satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Femininity demonstrated a moderating effect for women only; relationship satisfaction and depressive symptoms were more strongly associated in women with higher, versus lower, femininity. Co-rumination had a moderating effect for both sexes; relationship satisfaction was more strongly associated with depressive symptoms for individuals with higher, versus lower, levels of co-rumination. No moderating effects were found for masculinity or neuroticism. Findings support clinical and feminist theories that high femininity may place women at risk of dysphoric reactions to relationship distress and suggest that co-rumination may represent a risk factor for depression.

Co-rumination predicts the onset of depressive disorders during adolescence.

The tendency to co-ruminate, or frequently discuss and rehash problems with peers, may serve as one mechanism in the dramatic rise in depression observed during adolescence, particularly among adolescent girls. In the current study, our goal was (a) to test the hypothesis that adolescents' levels of co-rumination would predict the onset of clinically significant depressive episodes over a 2-year follow-up and (b) to determine whether levels of co-rumination would mediate gender differences in risk for depression onset. Both hypotheses were supported. Results of survival analysis revealed that adolescents with higher levels of co-rumination at the initial assessments exhibited a significantly shorter time to depression onset. Levels of co-rumination also mediated the gender difference in time to depression onset. These results were maintained even when adolescents' baseline levels of depressive symptoms and rumination were covaried statistically. Finally, co-rumination also predicted the course of illness in terms of episode severity and duration. Results suggest that co-rumination contributes a unique risk for the development of depression in adolescents.