Response Styles Questionnaire Research Articles

Preventive Effect of a 7-Week App-Based Passive Psychoeducational Stress Management Program on Students.

Passive psychoeducation is an easily accessible and cost-effective self-guided intervention that does not use elements of active psychotherapies or require homework. The present study aimed to investigate the acceptability and efficacy of a 7-week app-based passive psychoeducation stress management program to promote adaptive emotion regulation and coping skills in university students (i.e., 80% psychology students). Participants were tested via Lime-Survey® at pre- and post-test with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), the Response Styles Questionnaire (RSQ), and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). A stratified permutation block randomization by age, gender, and the DASS-21 stress subscale was performed. Each week, the psychoeducation group (n = 123) received different psychoeducation modules. At the end of each module, participants answered questions about their satisfaction with each module and adherence to psychoeducation. The control group (n = 130) received no intervention. The psychoeducation program led to a significant improvement in the adaptive emotion regulation strategy: "reappraisal" (p = 0.004) and a significant reduction in the dysfunctional coping style: "symptom-related rumination" (p = 0.01) but not to a significant reduction in depression, anxiety, and stress scores compared to the control group. Thus, the present study might demonstrate a preventive effect of an app-based passive psychoeducation program in students with low clinically relevant psychopathological symptoms.

Inhibitory Control Training for Anxiety and Math Achievement in Primary School Children: Protocol for a Proof-of-Concept Study.

Cognitive control training (CCT) has shown potential to reduce emotional vulnerability in adults and adolescents. However, there is scant literature testing the efficacy of CCT for the reduction of anxiety and transferring the effects to educational outcomes in children. Building on the evidence that a greater ability to suppress a prepotent response (inhibitory control) is associated with higher math achievement in children, it is plausible that training inhibitory processes using a CCT paradigm may be beneficial for reducing anxiety, improving inhibitory control, and in turn increasing math achievement. This proof-of-concept study aims to investigate the efficacy of 15 sessions of inhibitory control training for reduction in anxiety and improvement in math achievement in primary school children. We will use a 2 (group: CCT, adaptive Go/No-Go vs active control, low-load task) multiplied by 4 (time: pre- vs posttraining vs 1-month vs 3-month follow-up) randomized design in a nonselected sample of 100 children aged 8-10 years. Both groups will complete 10 minutes of daily training for 3 weeks at school. The dependent variables will be anxiety and correlates (Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children, Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale, Child Response Style Questionnaire, and Modified Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale), inhibitory control (Go/No-Go task), shifting (color-shape shifting task), updating (n-back task), and math achievement (Applied Problems, Calculation, and Math Facts Fluency subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement). We opened enrollment in September 2023. The initial results are expected to be published in late 2024. We predict that children in the CCT group will show a reduction in emotional symptoms; improvements in inhibition, shifting, and updating performance; and advances in math achievement from pre- to posttraining, and that these effects will be maintained at 1- and 3-month follow-ups, compared to children in the active control group. The CCT paradigm used in our study will provide a greater understanding of the emotional and cognitive transfer effects on children and inform future work. Specifically, the findings will advance the knowledge of deploying inhibitory control training with children and provide valuable insights into its use for reducing anxiety and advancing math achievement. Open Science Framework ofs.io/de2qa; https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/DE2QA. PRR1-10.2196/52929.

Hypomanic Defence: Investigating the relationship between depression, response styles and vulnerability to mania

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to investigate the role of response styles to negative affect in mediating the relationship between depression and vulnerability to experiencing mania. MethodsA cross-sectional correlational design was utilized to examine 217 participants’ responses to an online survey comprising the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS), Response Styles Questionnaire (RSQ), and Personal Health Questionaire (PHQ-8). ResultsAfter controlling for covariates (age, gender, ethnicity & depression), rumination, risk-taking and adaptive-coping were all positive predictors of hypomanic personality. Parallel mediation analysis demonstrated that rumination and risk-taking positively mediated the relationship between depression and hypomanic personality, whilst adaptive-coping negatively mediated this relationship. Serial mediation analysis revealed evidence for a sequence of causal mediators, demonstrating that rumination independently predicted risk-taking, which subsequently predicted hypomanic personality. Adaptive-coping continued to supress the relationship between depression and hypomanic personality after including risk-taking in the mediation analysis. LimitationsAn unstratified volunteer sampling technique was utilised, introducing potential bias regarding the tendency to adopt maladaptive response styles. Utilising a three-factor response styles solution may lack face validity due to the wide variety of behaviours that encompass adaptive-coping strategies such as pleasant distraction and problem solving. ConclusionsOur findings support the maladaptive role of rumination and risk-taking in mediating the relationship between depression and vulnerability to experience mania, and further substantiates the protective function of adaptive-coping. Clinical interventions may endeavour to diminish the use of rumination and risk-taking, whilst promoting adaptive-coping strategies such as pleasant distraction and problem-solving.

The effectiveness of emotion regulation training on promoting mental health and rumination of divorce women

Introduction: Divorce is an ancient and social problem in society that the widespread consequences continue long after to this incident. Aim: The present aim this study was to examine the effectiveness of emotion regulation training on promoting mental health and rumination of divorce women. Method: This present research is a simi-experimental plan in which pretest-posttest with the control group has been used. The statistical population of this study is formed of divorced women under the auspices of Kohgiloyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Welfare Organization in 2021. For this purpose a total of 50 women were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly assigned in control and experimental groups. Instruments were Rumination Response Style (RRS) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). The experimental group participated in emotion regulation training to 90–minute 10 sessions during the two months. The data were analyzed by SPSS-22 and multivariate covariance. Results: The mean and standard deviation of age were 39.4 and 8.25, respectively. The results showed that after controlling the effects of covariate variables (pretest), effectiveness of emotion regulation training on promoting health and rumination components include somatic symptom of (F=17.45, P>0.01), anxity (F=25.52, P>0.01), social performance (F=26.99, P>0.01), depression (F=15.47, P>0.01), rumination response (F=75.13, P>0.01) and distraction respons (F=34.42, P>0.01) divorce womens were significant. Conclusion: On the basis of the finding of this study it can be conclouded that emotion regulation training could be an effective intervention in enhancing mental health and reducing rumination. Thus, it is suggested that such intervention be used in family counsling and mental health centers.

العلاقة بين الصبر وكل من التحكم في الأفكار والتفكير الاجتراري

Purpose: The study aimed to examine the relationship between patience and its various components and both control of thoughts and ruminative thinking. Materials and methods: The researcher used the descriptive on a sample of (131) individuals, The mean age of the participants is (32.88) and a standard deviation of (9.76). The researcher used three scales: the patience scale, the thought control scale, and The Response Style Questionnaire. Results: The results showed that there is a positive relationship between the total degree of patience and the total degree of controlling thoughts. It also found a positive relationship between the total degree of patience with the dimension of distraction and re-evaluation, while the sub-dimension (worry) was negatively associated with the total degree of patience. It was also found that there is a positive relationship between the total degree of patience and the total degree of ruminative thinking, and a positive relationship was found between the total degree of the patience scale with the sub-dimension reflection, while there was no relationship between the total degree of patience of the patience scale and the sub-dimension brooding. Finally, the results of the prediction study indicated that patience has a predictive ability to control thoughts and ruminative thinking

Психологические характеристики деятельности, традиционные ценности и ценности безопасности вузовской молодежи в контексте инновативности

Exploring value orientations and psychological characteristics of activity in students in the context of their innovativeness is relevant in connection with the society's social demands and the specifics of personal and professional development of this category of young people. Such a study is significant, since it is students who are potential and active subjects of various social transformations, the most intellectually advanced and creative part of youth. The study focused on correlation and regression analyses of value orientations and psychological characteristics of activity among university students in Tomsk (N = 419). In the study the following research instruments were used: Sh. Schwartz's Portrait Values Questionnaire-Revised (modified by K.V. Sugonyaev); R. Inglehart's World Values Survey (adapted by R.K. Khabibulin); N.M. Lebedeva and A.N. Tatarko's Self-Assessment of Personality's Innovative Qualities; E.Yu. Mandrikova's Self-Organization of Activity Questionnaire; the Differential Test of Reflexivity (D.A. Leontiev); the Satisfaction with Life Scale (E. Diener; adapted by D.A. Leontiev and E.N. Osin); the Index of Personal Readiness for Activity (S.A. Bogomaz, I.V. Atamanova); the Change Response Styles Questionnaire (T.Yu. Bazarov, M.P. Sycheva); the Academic Motivation Scales questionnaire (T.O. Gordeeva, O.A. Sychev and E.N. Osin, based on the R. Vallerand Academic Motivation Scale). Regression analysis has shown that the leading psychological characteristics of activity in university youth in the context of innovativeness are “Index of innovativeness”, “Index of personal readiness for activity” and “Implementing style of responding to changes”. The regression analysis results indicate that the innovative style of responding to changes is not preferable among students when assessing their innovativeness. The study conducted revealed the ambivalence of the relationship between university youth's traditional values, safety values and their psychological characteristics of activity. This fact may indicate that current societal transformations inevitably affect personality characteristics of young people, showing that values ensuring the society's stability and security, the absence of chaos are important for them, as well as the significance of development, expansion of opportunities for self-realization, socio-cultural transformations. The study findings show the need for taking into account the degree of manifestation of psychological parameters in question and their ratio in students to ensure their personal and socio-cultural development. Investigating students' psychological characteristics can be used as guidelines for developing various programs of psychological and pedagogical support for their personal and professional development during their studies at university, searching for models of training specialists that meet the current requirements.

Rumination, emotional intensity and emotional clarity

It has been suggested that a high tendency to ruminate presents a deficient emotion regulation. Past research found that people with high tendency to ruminate show sustained attention for negative stimuli and increased negative thinking, which may result in intensified experiences of negative emotions. Moreover, high level of rumination was associated with low emotional understanding. Accordingly, we hypothesized (1) high ruminators (HR) experience more intense emotional reactions than low ruminators (LR) for negative but not positive emotions, (2) LR have higher emotional clarity than HR, and (3) there would be the same pattern of results for brooding but not for reflective pondering. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, a rumination response style questionnaire, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. They also rated emotional intensity and identified emotion type for scene pictures from the CAP-D (Categorized Affective Pictures Database). The highest (HR) and lowest (LR) quarters of ruminators were compared on levels of emotional intensity and emotional clarity. We found HR experienced negative emotions more intensely than LR, with no difference for positive emotions. In contrast to our hypothesis, the two groups did not differ in their emotion understanding. This pattern of results was found for brooding but not for reflective pondering. Our research sheds light on the mechanism underlying rumination and emotion regulation.

Thinking too much: rumination and psychopathology.

Thinking too much: rumination and psychopathology.

The Interplay of Chronic Interpersonal Stress and Rumination on Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Youth.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) describes deliberate self-destructive behaviors without the intention to die. Little is known about what factors contribute to NSSI especially among youth. The current study tested two conceptual models for how chronic interpersonal stress and rumination may contribute to NSSI engagement across 18months in a community sample of youth: (1) a mediation pathway based on the Emotional Cascade Model (i.e., stress contributes to rumination and then to subsequent NSSI), and (2) a moderation model based on the cognitive vulnerability-stress framework (i.e., rumination moderates the relation between stress and NSSI). 516 youth aged 7-16 (Mage = 12.0; 56% female; 90% Non-Hispanic or Non-Latinx) reported on ongoing interpersonal stress occurring between T1-T2 (every 6months from T1 to 12months) via the Youth Life Stress Interview, rumination via the Children's Response Styles Questionnaire (at T1 and 18months later, T2), and NSSI engagement every six months from 18 to 36months (T2-T3) via the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview. Interpersonal stress predicted later rumination (b = .43, p < .01), rumination forecasted later NSSI occurrence (OR = 1.06, p < .01), and mediation was supported via a significant indirect effect of interpersonal stress on NSSI through rumination (b = .03, 95% CI = .01, .07). Rumination did not significantly moderate the relation between stress and NSSI. The prospective relation between chronic interpersonal stress and NSSI engagement was partly explained by rumination, aligning with the Emotional Cascade Model's prediction that rumination contributes to NSSI. Youth may conduct NSSI to interrupt rumination elicited by chronic interpersonal stress.

The Effectiveness of Emotion Schema Therapy on Rumination and the Extreme Accountability of Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

با توجه به میزان شیوع علائم وسواسی‏جبری به‌نظر می‏رسد باید جهت بهبود علائم اقداماتی انجام شود. از این‌رو، مطالعۀ حاضر با هدف تعیین اثربخشی طرح‌واره درمانی هیجانی بر نشخوار فکری و مسئولیت‌پذیری افراطی بیماران مبتلا به اختلال وسواسی جبری انجام شد. این پژوهش نیمه‌تجربی از نوع پیش‌آزمون، پس‌آزمون و پیگیری پس از سه ماه بوده است. جامعۀ آماری شامل افراد مبتلا به اختلال وسواس اجباری بودند که به مرکز مشاورۀ آرتیمان مشهد در سال 1398 مراجعه کرده بودند. از بین آن‌ها 16 فرد مبتلا به این اختلال به‌صورت در دسترس انتخاب و به‌طور تصادفی به یک گروه آزمایش و یک گروه کنترل در انتظار درمان تقسیم شدند. برای جمع‌آوری داده‏ها، از مقیاس پرسشنامۀ سبک پاسخ‌دهی نشخوار فکریو مسئولیت‌پذیری کالیفرنیا استفاده شد. نتایج تحلیل واریانس با اندازه‌گیری مکرر نشان داد که طرح‌واره درمانی هیجانی بر کاهش نشخوارفکری و مسئولیت‌پذیری افراطی افراد مبتلا به اختلال وسواسی‏ اجباری مؤثر است. بنابراین،طرح‌واره درمانی هیجانیمی‏تواند بر کاهش نشخوار فکری و مسئولیت‌پذیری افراطی افراد مبتلا به اختلال وسواسی اجباری مؤثر باشد. پیشنهاد می‌شود با به‌کارگیری این متغیرها از سوی مراکز درمانی، سایر ارگان‌ها و سازمان‌ها‌ی مرتبط بتوان در راستای بهبود وضعیت سلامت روان افراد گامی مؤثر برداشت.

Labeling Emotional Stimuli in Early Childhood Predicts Neural and Behavioral Indicators of Emotion Regulation in Late Adolescence

BackgroundEffective emotion regulation (ER) may be supported by 1) accurate emotion identification, encoding, and maintenance of emotional states and related brain activity of regions involved in emotional response (i.e., amygdala, ventral/posterior insula) and 2) cognitive processes that implement reframing, supported by activation in cognitive control brain regions (e.g., frontal, insular, and parietal cortices). The purpose of this project was to examine how emotion labeling ability in early childhood is related to ER concurrently and prospectively. MethodsData from a prospective longitudinal study of youths at risk for depression, including measures of emotion labeling (i.e., Facial Affect Comprehension Evaluation) and ER ability (i.e., Emotion Regulation Checklist) and strategy use (i.e., Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Children’s Response Style Questionnaire), and functional magnetic resonance imaging data during a sadness ER task (N = 139) were examined. ResultsFindings from multilevel modeling and linear regression suggested that greater emotion labeling ability of more difficult emotions in early childhood was associated with enhanced parent-reported ER in adolescence, but not with a tendency to engage in adaptive or maladaptive ER strategies. Recognition of fear and surprise predicted greater activation in cortical regions involved in cognitive control during an ER of sadness task, including in the insula, anterior cingulate cortex, dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, and inferior frontal gyrus. ConclusionsThese findings suggest that early ability to identify and label difficult facial emotions in early childhood is associated with better ER in adolescence and enhanced activity of cognitive control regions of the brain.

Опросник для диагностики потенциала самоизменений личности

The paper presents the development of the Self-Change Potential questionnaire. The validation of the questionnaire was conducted in three steps. Within the first series of studies (N=248) the structure of the questionnaire was defined, the consistency of the resulting scales was checked and certain items were corrected. The construct validity of the modified version of the questionnaire was tested within the second series of studies (N=569). At the final stage (N=36) test-retest reliability was checked. The obtained Cronbach’s α coefficients (0,64—0,8) for all scales of the questionnaire and the sum score demonstrated its satisfactory consistency. All items had significant correlations with the sum score (р&lt;0,0001). To test the construct validity we used the Change Response Styles Questionnaire, the Portrait Value Questionnaire (revised version), the Style of Conscious Self-Regulation of the Behavior Questionnaire, and the Self-Efficacy Scale. Correlations with these measures confirmed the construct validity of the questionnaire. The Self-Change Potential Questionnaire can be used for assessing a person’s ability for self-changes on the various levels of mental organization, which could be consciously initiated and actualized.

Depressogenic Attributional Style and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese University Students: The Role of Rumination and Distraction

The objective of the current study was to test the hypothesis that rumination and distraction mediate the relationship between depressogenic attributional style and depressive symptoms. 1017 university students recruited from two universities (90.0% Han and 10.0% ethnic minority) in China, completed questionnaires that measured depressogenic attributional style (Cognitive Style Questionnaire), depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) and rumination and distraction (Response Styles Questionnaire). Direct effects and the mediation model were evaluated via both linear regression analyses and Sobel tests. The rumination subscale of the RSQ was significantly positively correlated with the CESD and subscales of CSQ. However, the distraction subscale of the RSQ was significantly negatively correlated with the CESD and all subscales of the CSQ, except for the subscale of self. Higher levels of depressogenic attributional styles were associated with higher levels of rumination response style. In contrast, lower levels of CSQ-cause, CSQ-consequences, and CSQ-total were associated with higher levels of distraction response style. Higher levels of rumination response style were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. However, higher levels of distraction response style were associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. The obtained results of Sobel tests confirmed that rumination partly mediated the relationship between depressogenic attributional style and depressive symptoms. The present results suggest that rumination but not distraction may mediate the relationship between depressogenic attributional style and depressive symptoms; additionally, rumination contributes to the negative outcomes of depressive symptoms.

Psychometric properties of the Children\u2019s Response Styles Questionnaire in a Hong Kong Chinese community sample

BackgroundThe Children’s Response Styles Questionnaire (CRSQ) is a widely-adopted inventory that assesses response styles in youths. It is useful in examining how coping styles (particularly rumination) may relate to depressive vulnerability in youths. Despite its utility, little is known about its applicability in non-Western cultures and CRSQ has not been evaluated using current psychometric methods including item response theory (IRT). The present study assessed the properties using IRT methods in a Chinese youth sample.MethodsStudents in Grades 4-6 were recruited from seven public primary schools in Hong Kong, and a total of 581 children (280 boys and 301 girls) between 8 and 14 years of age participated in the study. A Chinese version of CRSQ was administered to them in groups at school after receiving written parental consent as well as students’ assent.ResultsConfirmatory factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure that was comparable to that identified in Western samples, namely, the rumination and distraction/problem-solving subscales. IRT analysis suggested that items varied in levels of item discrimination and item severity, and in precision/usefulness for assessing the underlying latent trait levels. Test information analysis indicated that rumination subscale was more useful than the distraction and problem-solving subscale in assessing the latent trait over a broader range of levels. For gender-based Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analysis, item 1 “When I am sad, I think about how alone I feel” was found to exhibit higher discriminating power for girls than boys.ConclusionsThe study presents the first attempt to examine CRSQ item properties using IRT analysis and supports its validity beyond the Western cultures. The factor structure of CRSQ was found to be comparable to the West in our Chinese sample. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) evaluation suggested all but one item in the rumination subscale of the CRSQ apply equally well to both boys and girls.

Emotion dysregulation in hypochondriasis and depression.

The aim of this study was to explore whether certain aspects of emotion dysregulation (i.e., facets of alexithymia and rumination) are more closely linked to hypochondriasis than to depression and vice versa. Nineteen patients with hypochondriasis (HYP), 33 patients with depression, and 52 healthy control participants completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Response Styles Questionnaire, and additional symptom and illness behaviour scales. A clinical interview was used to establish DSM-IV diagnoses and to exclude all cases with more than one axis I diagnosis. Depression patients reported more difficulties describing feelings and more symptom- and self-focused rumination than both HYP patients and healthy individuals, whereas HYP patients differed only from healthy individuals in regard to more difficulties in identifying feelings and more symptom-focused rumination. Multiple regression analyses, including all assessed facets of emotion dysregulation, showed that the degree of somatoform features (somatic symptoms, health anxiety, and illness behaviour) was specifically predicted by higher difficulties in identifying feelings scores, whereas depressive symptom levels were specifically predicted by higher rumination scores. Specific associations were found between difficulties in identifying feelings and key features of HYP, whereas depression was linked to a more generalized pattern of emotion regulation deficits. Emotion dysregulation can be found in hypochondriasis and depression Difficulties in identifying own feelings are specifically linked to somatic symptoms, health anxiety, and illness behaviour, whereas a more generalized pattern of emotion dysregulation is found in relation to depression Further research is needed to investigate whether the effectiveness of current treatments for depression, hypochondriasis, health anxiety, and related disorders could be improved by additional emotion regulation interventions.

Rumination and primary care depression

IntroductionResponse styles theory postulates that rumination is a central factor in occurrence, severity and maintaining of depression. High neuroticism has been associated with tendency to ruminate.ObjectiveTo evaluate the relationships between rumination, neuroticism and depression in a naturalistic prospective cohort of primary care patients with depressive disorders with life-chart methodology.AimsWe hypothesized, that rumination would correlate with severity and duration of depression and with concurrent anxiety, gender and neuroticism.MethodsIn the Vantaa Primary Care Depression Study, a stratified random sample of 1119 adult patients was screened for depression using the Prime-MD. Depressive and comorbid psychiatric disorders were diagnosed using SCID-I/P and SCID-II. Of the 137 patients with depressive disorders, 82% completed the five-year follow-up with a graphic life chart. Neuroticism was measured with the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI-Q). Response styles were investigated at five years using the Response Styles Questionnaire (RSQ-43).ResultsRumination correlated significantly with Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (r = 0.54), Beck Depression Inventory (r = 0.61), Beck Anxiety Inventory (r = 0.50), Beck Hopelessness Scale (r = 0.51) and Neuroticism (r = 0.58). Rumination correlated also with proportion of follow-up time spent depressed (r = 0.38). In multivariate regression, high rumination was significantly predicted by current depressive symptoms and neuroticism, but not by anxiety symptoms or preceding duration of depressive episodes.ConclusionsRumination correlated with current severity of depression, but the association with preceding episode duration remained uncertain. The association between neuroticism and rumination was strong. The findings are consistent with rumination as a state-related phenomenon, which is also strongly intertwined with traits predisposing to depression.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Response style and severity and chronicity of depressive disorders in primary health care

BackgroundResponse styles theory of depression postulates that rumination is a central factor in occurrence, severity and maintaining of depression. High neuroticism has been associated with tendency to ruminate. We investigated associations of response styles and neuroticism with severity and chronicity of depression in a primary care cohort study. MethodsIn the Vantaa Primary Care Depression Study, a stratified random sample of 1119 adult patients was screened for depression using the Prime-MD. Depressive and comorbid psychiatric disorders were diagnosed using SCID-I/P and SCID-II interviews. Of the 137 patients with depressive disorders, 82% completed the prospective five-year follow-up with a graphic life chart enabling evaluation of the longitudinal course of episodes. Neuroticism was measured with the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI-Q). Response styles were investigated at five years using the Response Styles Questionnaire (RSQ-43). ResultsAt five years, rumination correlated significantly with scores of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (r=0.54), Beck Depression Inventory (r=0.61), Beck Anxiety Inventory (r=0.50), Beck Hopelessness Scale (r=0.51) and Neuroticism (r=0.58). Rumination correlated also with proportion of follow-up time spent depressed (r=0.38). In multivariate regression, high rumination was significantly predicted by current depressive symptoms and neuroticism, but not by anxiety symptoms or preceding duration of depressive episodes. ConclusionsAmong primary care patients with depression, rumination correlated with current severity of depressive symptoms, but the association with preceding episode duration remained uncertain. The association between neuroticism and rumination was strong. The findings are consistent with rumination as a state-related phenomenon, which is also strongly intertwined with traits predisposing to depression.

Rumination as a Marker of Psychological Improvement in Transsexual Women Postoperative.

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze rumination levels of transsexual women before and after gender affirmation surgery (GAS). Rumination scores may represent a broader measure of GAS success and an alternative to patient-reported satisfaction, quality of life, well-being, or the presence of “caseness” for anxiety or depression as previously established in the literature.Methods: Thirty-nine transsexual women were recruited. The participants completed the rumination scale of the Response Styles Questionnaire (RSQ) and were divided into three subsets according to the treatment time.Results: The rumination scores were lower in the transsexual women who had undergone surgical procedures on primary sexual characteristics and gradually decreased with each additional procedure completed with respect to secondary sexual characteristics.Conclusion: Rumination appears to comprise an important marker of improvement in post-GAS transsexual women.

Study on the relations of response styles and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents

Objective To investigate the effect of three response styles and the ratio scores on Chinese adolescent depressive symptoms, and to investigate the gender differences of response styles and the moderation effects of gender on the relations between response styles and depressive symptoms. Methods The response style questionnaire and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) were adopted to measure 932 adolescent twins. Results (1)Rumination was positively associated with adolescent depressive symptoms(r=0.485), positive response styles were negatively associated with adolescent depressive symptoms(r=-0.331). (2)Ratio score was positively associated with adolescent depressive symptoms(r=0.586) and the correlation between ratio score and depressive symptoms was even higher than that between response styles and depressive symptoms. (3)Gender differences of response styles were not significant in Chinese youth samples. (4)Gender moderated the relation between rumination and depressive symptoms(β=-0.07, P<0.05). Conclusion Ratio scores can explain the relationship between response styles and depressive symptoms better than each of the three individual response styles, and the association between rumination and depressive symptoms is higher in girls. Key words: Rumination; Distraction; Problem-solving; Ratio scores; Adolescents; Depressive Symptoms

Prefrontal thinning affects functional connectivity and regional homogeneity of the anterior cingulate cortex in depression.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with structural and functional alterations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Enhanced ACC activity at rest (measured using various imaging methodologies) is found in treatment-responsive patients and is hypothesized to bolster treatment response by fostering adaptive rumination. However, whether structural changes influence functional coupling between fronto-cingulate regions and ACC regional homogeneity (ReHo) and whether these functional changes are related to levels of adaptive rumination and treatment response is still unclear. Cortical thickness and ReHo maps were calculated in 21 unmedicated depressed patients and 35 healthy controls. Regions with reduced cortical thickness defined the seeds for the subsequent functional connectivity (FC) analyses. Patients completed the Response Style Questionnaire, which provided a measure of adaptive rumination associated with better response to psychotherapy. Compared with controls, depressed patients showed thinning of the right anterior PFC, increased prefrontal connectivity with the supragenual ACC (suACC), and higher ReHo in the suACC. The suACC clusters of increased ReHo and FC spatially overlapped. In depressed patients, suACC ReHo scores positively correlated with PFC thickness and with FC strength. Moreover, stronger fronto-cingulate connectivity was related to higher levels of adaptive rumination. Greater suACC ReHo and connectivity with the right anterior PFC seem to foster adaptive forms of self-referential processing associated with better response to psychotherapy, whereas prefrontal thinning impairs the ability of depressed patients to engage the suACC during a major depressive episode. Bolstering the function of the suACC may represent a potential target for treatment.