Ruminative Coping Research Articles

Effects of illness perception on negative emotions and fatigue in chronic rheumatic diseases: Rumination as a possible mediator.

Illness perception has long been hypothesized to be linked to psychological well-b eing in patients with rheumatic diseases, although substantial evidence is lacking, and the contribution of ruminative coping style to this relationship is unclear. To investigate the roles of illness perception and rumination in predicting fatigue and negative emotions in patients with chronic rheumatic diseases. Illness perception, rumination, fatigue and negative emotions (i.e. depression, anxiety and stress) were assessed by the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised, Stress Reactive Rumination Scale, Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue, and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale respectively. Multivariate regression analysis, the Sobel test, and the bootstrap were used to identify the mediating effect of rumination. All five subscales of illness perception, including perceived illness identity, chronicity, cyclical nature, consequences and coherence of illness, were significantly associated with fatigue and negative emotions. In mediational analysis, rumination was found to mediate three components of illness perception (the identity, cyclical nature and consequences of illness) and negative emotions/fatigue. Perceived identity, cyclical nature, and consequences of illness are significantly associated with fatigue and negative emotions in patients with chronic rheumatic diseases and these associations are mediated by rumination. Our findings suggest that psychological intervention should target rumination to improve physical and emotional well-being of patients with chronic rheumatic diseases.

Desired attachment and breakup distress relate to automatic approach of the ex-partner

Background and objectivesRomantic relationship breakups can lead to severe emotional disturbances including major depression. Anxious attachment and desired attachment with the ex-partner are hypothesized to elicit repetitive thought about the breakup and the former partner and attempts to reunite with (i.e. approach) the ex-partner, which fuel breakup distress. Since prior research on this topic has mostly used survey methodology, the study aim was to examine the relations between above-mentioned variables employing a behavioral measure of approach of the ex-partner. MethodsAutomatic approach-avoidance tendencies toward the former partner were assessed with an Approach Avoidance Task (AAT). Sixty-two students (76% female) moved a manikin towards or away from stimuli pictures (ex-partner, matched stranger, landscape) as fast as possible based on the stimulus frame color (blue, yellow). Participants also completed questionnaires assessing anxious attachment, desired attachment, repetitive thought about the breakup (rumination) and the ex-partner (yearning), and breakup distress (prolonged grief symptoms). ResultsAnxious attachment related positively to rumination and breakup distress. Desired attachment related positively to yearning, automatic approach bias toward the ex-partner, and breakup distress. Both anxious and desired attachment, rumination, yearning, and approach bias related positively to breakup distress. LimitationsThe use of a student sample may limit generalizability. A correlational design precludes causal conclusions. ConclusionsTogether with prior work, results suggests anxious attachment hampers psychological adaptation to a breakup by increasing the use of ruminative coping. Desire to retain an attachment bond with the ex-partner, expressed in yearning and approach of the ex-partner, may also worsen breakup distress.

The role of environmental sensitivity in the development of rumination and depressive symptoms in childhood: a longitudinal study

Some children are more affected than others by their upbringing due to their increased sensitivity to the environment. More sensitive children are at heightened risk for the development of internalizing problems, particularly when experiencing unsupportive parenting. However, little is known about how the interplay between children’s sensitivity and parenting leads to higher levels of depressive symptoms. In the current study, we investigated the interaction between early parenting and children’s sensitivity on levels of depressive symptomatology in middle childhood, exploring the role of rumination as a possible mediator in a community sample. Participants included 196 USA resident families, from a middle class and mostly European–American background, and their healthy children, followed up from age 3 until 9 and 12 years. Environmental sensitivity was assessed observationally when children were 3 years old. Parenting style was based on parent-report at the age of 3 years. When children were nine, they completed questionnaires on rumination and depressive symptoms (repeated at 12 years). Analyses were run applying a Bayesian approach. Children’s sensitivity interacted with permissive parenting in predicting rumination at age 9. Rumination, in turn, was associated with depressive symptoms at age 9 and, to a lesser extent, at age 12. No relevant interactions emerged for authoritative and authoritarian parenting. Sensitive children may be at heightened risk for internalizing problems when exposed to a permissive parenting style. Permissive parenting was associated with increased ruminative coping strategies in sensitive children which, in turn, predicted higher levels of depression. Hence, rumination emerged as an important cognitive risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms in sensitive children.

Adjustment toward infertility mediates the relationship between coping, depression and anxiety in men: A confirmatory analysis

ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was to develop a theoretical framework for the relationships between coping, adjustment toward infertility, depression and anxiety and to present a confirmatory analysis of the developed theoretical framework in men who, together with their spouses, were candidates for assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment. Study designThis cross-sectional study was conducted on 212 men selected from the couples who were candidate for ART. Depression and anxiety, adjustment toward infertility, and coping strategies were assessed using self-report questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using the plug-in application PROCESS macro and AMOS software. ResultsThe results showed that higher depression and anxiety scores were related to lower adjustment to infertility. Higher adjustment score was associated with lower self-blame, self-focused rumination, active confronting and avoidance coping strategies scores significantly. In the depression and anxiety pathway models, the positive relationship between active confronting and elf-focused rumination coping strategies were mediated by adjustment. However, the effect of active confronting on depression and anxiety was significant only with mediating role of adjustment. The direct and indirect relationship of self-focused rumination and the indirect relationship of active confronting with depression and anxiety had a good fitness (CMIN/ DF = .419). ConclusionThe self-focused rumination and active confronting coping strategies, having negative association with adjustment to infertility, and may increase depression and anxiety in men undergoing ART; however, higher adjustment is associated with decreased depression and anxiety. Therefore, mental health programs for men undergoing ART may need to focus on improving the skills of adaptive coping strategies.

Which Contextual Features Predict Physiological Stress Reactivity in Midlife to Late Life?

Chronic stress creates vulnerability to adverse mental and physical health outcomes in later life. While claims about the negative effects of stress on health are primarily based on self-report, it is unclear how subjective stress measures (chronic or perceived stress) and other environmental or individual characteristics (neighborhood, social and health behaviors) relate to physiological stress response. This study examines which contextual features contribute to differences in physiological stress reactivity among adults at risk of type II diabetes (Richmond Stress and Sugar Study, n=125, aged 40-70). Psycho-social stress was induced via Trier Social Stress Test. Using advanced selection methods, we simultaneously explore multiple predictors and illustrate how different sets of risk and protective factors contribute to normal or abnormal stress reactivity profiles. Preliminary results suggest that the top five important predictors are education, contact with friends, perceived stress, ruminative coping, and sedentary behavior. Implications for research and targeted interventions are discussed.

The impact of self-esteem, family and peer cohesion on social appearance anxiety in adolescence: examination of the mediating role of coping

ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to investigate the longitudinal relationships between self-esteem, family and peer cohesion, and social appearance anxiety (SAA) by considering the mediating role of adaptive (e.g., problem-solving) and maladaptive (e.g., rumination) coping strategies and the moderating role of gender. Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires in 2018 and 2019 in a sample of 1085 adolescents. Applying Structural Equation Modelling, results showed that self-esteem acted as a protective factor of SAA over one year. The effect was partially mediated by decreased levels of maladaptive coping strategies, while adaptive coping strategies had no effect. Perceived cohesion with family and peers had neither a the role of social support beyond perceived cohesion as well as emotion-focused adaptive coping strategies in predicting SAA.

Trauma in the third decade: Ruminative coping, social relationships and posttraumatic stress symptoms

BackgroundPrevious research suggest that rumination and poor social relationships contribute to the maintenance of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) after traumatic events. Less is known about how these factors work together. The aim of this study was to assess the association between ruminative coping style and long-term PTSS, and to determine whether perceived social support and loneliness can attenuate or potentiate this association, respectively. MethodsThis study used cross-sectional data from survivors and bereaved (n = 185) collected 26 years after the 1990 fire on the Scandinavian Star ferry. ResultsRuminative coping style, perceived social support, and loneliness were all uniquely associated with PTSS. Social support, but not loneliness, moderated the association between ruminative coping style and PTSS. LimitationsThe 26-year interval between the traumatic event and the data collection mean that we cannot infer how a ruminative coping style, perceived social support, and loneliness could affect PTSS in the early aftermath of disaster. ConclusionsThe results suggest that perceived social support and loneliness play different roles in long-term maintenance of PTSS. Whereas loneliness seem to have a direct association with PTSS, high social support may also protect against the negative effects of a ruminative coping style on PTSS. Social relationships may play a crucial role in recovery from trauma, particularly in individuals with a ruminative coping style.

Hope Springs: Moderating the Link Between Racial Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms for African American Emerging Adults

To better understand the moderating effect of coping mechanisms (distraction and rumination) and internal assets (hope) on the relationship between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms, a sample of 363 African American students (65.3% female; mean age = 20.25 years; SD = 2.39) from two large Midwestern universities were surveyed using self-report measures. Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to explore the relationships among the variables and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that discrimination (B = 0.10, p < .001) and ruminative coping (B = 1.05, p < .001) were positively related to depressive symptoms, while hope was negatively related to depression (B = −0.33, p < .001). Further, the relationship between discrimination and depressive symptoms was moderated by hope (B = 0.01, p = .02). The interaction between discrimination and depressive symptoms suggested that participants who reported low levels of hope also reported more depressive symptoms regardless of level of discrimination, compared with those who reported high hope. For these African American emerging adults, the results bring to light the potential of an internal asset that aids in reduction of depressive symptoms in response to constant, potential harm such as racial discrimination.

Pubertal Maturation and Trajectories of Depression During Early Adolescence.

Beginning at puberty, prevalence of depression in females rises dramatically. The physical changes of puberty coincide with a period of social flux, during which relationships become less stable and more prone to conflict. While this social upheaval is normatively distressing for girls, it may be especially so for girls with cognitive styles that leave them more susceptible to depression. The present study investigated depressive symptoms at two time points during early pubertal maturation. N = 110 girls (Mage = 11.57, SD = 0.98) reported on depressive symptomology, pubertal maturation, ruminative coping style, frequency of peer conflict, and rejection sensitivity. Multivariate analyses suggest more advanced pubertal development and greater rejection sensitivity at Time 1 predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms at Time 2, after accounting for baseline levels of depressive symptoms and all other social and cognitive correlates of depression. This effect was also found in early maturing girls. Menarche status was not significant. Since menarche occurs toward the end of puberty, results suggest that risk for worsening depression is not associated with completing puberty, or with menstruation itself. Rather, increases in depressive symptoms seem to be associated with physical changes that emerge early in the pubertal transition, especially for early maturing girls, paired with anticipatory concerns about social rejection.

The Effects of Intrusive Rumination, Deliberate Rumination, Emotional Intelligence, and Active Coping on Post-traumatic Growth

The Effects of Intrusive Rumination, Deliberate Rumination, Emotional Intelligence, and Active Coping on Post-traumatic Growth

Relational Aggressors’ Coping: The Moderating Role of Empathy

ABSTRACTThis study explored the role of empathy (cognitive, emotional) as a moderator in the link between coping and proactive and reactive relational aggression (RA) among 328 Greek preadolescents. The results indicated positive associations between emotion-focused coping (i.e., minimization), maladaptive coping, including resignation, passive avoidance, rumination, and aggression, and proactive and reactive RA. Negative associations were found between cognitive and emotional empathy and both RA functions. The findings also revealed that both components of empathy moderated the associations between rumination and aggressive coping and reactive RA. With regards to proactive RA, its link with rumination was moderated by low cognitive and emotional empathy. This evidence confirms prior research and sheds more light on the socio-emotive characteristics of relational aggressors.

The mediating role of friendship quality in the relationship between anger coping styles and mental health in Chinese adolescents

Increasing research studies and data, mostly focused on Western countries, suggest a dynamic relationship between coping with anger and psychological risk factors among children. Although there are cultural variations in anger coping, little attention has been directed among non-Western children. The present study examined the diverse influence of six anger coping styles on friendship quality and mental health among Chinese adolescents. Six competing anger coping strategies were tested as potential predictor variables: direct anger-out, assertion, social support-seeking, diffusion, avoidance, and rumination. Friendship quality was examined as a potential mediator. Mediation analyses were conducted using path analysis. The results indicated that friendship quality fully mediated the influence of social support-seeking on mental health problems, and partially mediated the influence of assertion on mental health problems. Furthermore, the direct anger-out and rumination coping styles directly and positively predicted mental health problems. These findings partially support the Simple Incidental Model suggesting that the influence of anger coping styles on mental health problems is complex, and friendship quality can mediate this influence. The present study points to a malleable target for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at increasing the favorable impact of anger coping strategies on psychological adjustment during the developmentally critical period of adolescence.

Psychometric properties of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM) in racial minority adolescents from low-income environments.

No study has yet assessed the psychometric properties of scores from any mindfulness measure in racial minority adolescents from low-income environments. The present study examined the reliability and validity of Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM) scores in a nonclinical sample of late adolescents (N = 92) from low-income neighborhoods who predominantly identified as African American. Findings confirmed a one-factor structure for responses to the 10 CAMM items as well as adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .88). In support of validity, CAMM scores demonstrated large significant negative correlations with scores from measures of constructs that should be negatively related to mindfulness, including depressive symptoms, worry, ruminative coping, and involuntary engagement responses to stress. Thus, CAMM scores appear to reliably and validly assess mindfulness in racial minority adolescents from low-income environments. Having a psychometrically sound mindfulness measure for this population will aid in understanding the mechanisms by which mindfulness-based interventions work, which could lead to improved interventions and outcomes for this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Cybervictimisation of adolescents predicts higher rumination, which in turn, predicts worse sleep over time

IntroductionResearch has suggested that cybervictimised adolescents experience poorer health outcomes, including less sleep. The present study was designed to determine whether cybervictimisation's ability to predict sleep adequacy (i.e., number of nights in the previous week of 8 h or more of sleep) would be mediated by adaptive coping (i.e., problem solving) as well as maladaptive coping (i.e., rumination). MethodsA three year longitudinal study with an initial sample of 2179 New Zealand adolescents (854 females and 920 males; 10–15 years old at T1) obtained self-report data on frequencies of cybervictimisation, use of problem solving and rumination coping strategies, and sleep adequacy. ResultsFindings from longitudinal cross-lag path analyses indicated that: 1) cybervictimisation predicted lower levels of sleep one year later; and 2) rumination, but not problem solving, mediated the temporal relationship of cybervictimisation on sleep adequacy. Cybervictimisation predicted increases in rumination, and it, in turn, predicted diminished sleep. ConclusionsCybervictimised adolescents not only reported higher rumination and sleep inadequacy concurrently, but levels of cybervictimisation predicted these ill effects one and two years later as well. Negative consequences of being cybervictimised were discerned long after the experience of being victimised online.

The ties that bind: Ingroup ties are linked with diminished inflammatory immune responses and fewer mental health symptoms through less rumination.

The present research explored whether components of social identity, namely ingroup ties, affect, and centrality, were differentially linked to mental health and inflammatory immune responses, and whether rumination mediated those relations. Study 1 (N = 138) indicated that stronger ingroup ties were associated with fewer mental health (depressive and post-traumatic stress) symptoms; those relations were mediated by the tendency for individuals with strong ties to rely less on ruminative coping to deal with a stressful life event. Study 2 (N = 54) demonstrated that ingroup ties were negatively associated with depressive symptoms, dispositional rumination, as well as stress-linked inflammatory elements at the physiological level. Consistent associations for centrality and ingroup affect were absent, suggesting that ingroup ties may have unique health benefits.

The Effect of Adult Attachment, Intentional Rumination and Stress Coping on Growth Following Romantic Breakups

The Effect of Adult Attachment, Intentional Rumination and Stress Coping on Growth Following Romantic Breakups

The emotion regulation effect of unconscious distraction on the subclinical depression

Depression is a prevalent affective disorder with adverse consequences. The subclinical depression has the great potential to develop into clinical depression. As a result of impaired inhibitory control function, depressive individuals, whether clinical or subclinical, have difficulties in disengaging themselves actively out of emotional events and their potential consequences or distracting attention to something neutral or pleasant. But instead, depressive individuals are characterized by ruminative coping of negative events and environmental stress. They focus on and indulge in the stress, negative emotions, and their possible consequences. As conscious distraction entails the involvement of cognitive control mechanism and depressive population has cognitive control deficits, conscious distraction may be limited in its efficacy at regulating depressive emotions. Instead, unconscious distraction whose execution does not depend on cognitive control function may be more adaptive in emotion regulation for depressive population. To date, little research has been performed to examine the effect of unconscious distraction on depression in depressive population, despite a couple of studies available to study the effects of intentional distraction. To address this issue, we randomly assigned depressive and non-depressive subjects into control (no-regulation), conscious distraction or unconscious distraction condition, using a complicated arithmetic task with feedback to induce frustration related depression. The positive affect index (PA) and the negative affect index (NA) of positive affect and negative affect scale were used to characterize the emotional state of depressive subjects and how it varies with different forms of distraction regulation. The results showed that, for non-depressive individuals, the PA scores of both conscious and unconscious distraction groups were significantly higher than those of the control group during frustration, while the former two groups showed no significant differences. For depressive individuals, the PA scores of unconscious distraction group were significantly higher than those of the control and the conscious distraction group during frustration, while there was no significant difference between the latter two groups. On the other hand, the conscious and unconscious distraction groups scored significantly lower in NA scores than the control group, irrespective of depression, and the former two groups showed no significant differences. This indicates that, in the face of depression-inducing events, only unconscious distraction is effective in improving positive affect levels for depressive population, though two forms of distraction reduce negative affect and enhance positive affect similarly for non-depressive individuals. In summary, unconscious distraction may be more suitable for the intervention of affective state in depressive population, and the PA may be more sensitive to reflect the change of depressed state compared to the NA.

Does personal distress enhance empathic interaction or block it?

Personal distress, an index of emotional empathy, is a tendency to feel pain when exposed to the misfortune or suffering of others. However, it is doubtful whether measuring personal distress tendencies with a self-reporting scale is appropriate for measuring other-orienting empathic tendencies. Batson (1991) argued that personal distress had an aversive self-focused attribute; therefore, in this study, we administered a series of correlational studies to identify the nature of personal distress more clearly. In Study 1, using data from 169 online university students, we found that personal distress was positively related to self-focused ruminative coping and dysfunctional self-focus. In Study 2, using data from 432 participants, we found that personal distress was highly correlated with neuroticism and negatively correlated with extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. However, other measures of emotional empathy—empathic concern and empathic responding—showed an opposite correlation pattern. In Study 3, using data from 145 participants, we found that personal distress was positively correlated with depression, self-criticism, and negative self-concept. However, empathic concern and empathic responding showed the opposite pattern again. These results suggest that personal distress represents the negative side of emotional empathy and could block empathic interaction instead of enhancing it.

The Mediating Effects of Emotional Clarity, Deliberate Rumination, and Problem-focused Coping in the link between Resilience and Adversarial Growth

The Mediating Effects of Emotional Clarity, Deliberate Rumination, and Problem-focused Coping in the link between Resilience and Adversarial Growth

The Structural Relationships Among Attachment, Ego-Resilience, and Growth following Romantic Breakups of College Students: Deliberate Rumination and Problem-Focused Coping Strategy as Mediators

The Structural Relationships Among Attachment, Ego-Resilience, and Growth following Romantic Breakups of College Students: Deliberate Rumination and Problem-Focused Coping Strategy as Mediators