The impact of co-rumination on depression in a longtitudinal study of adolescents: does girls' talking more ruminatively about their problems with a friend increase their risk of depression?

Abstract

Co-rumination is a coping style involving extensively discussing problems in friendships with a focus on negative feelings. The only previous study of co-rumination (Rose, 2002) found that girls reported higher levels of co-rumination and internalising symptoms (depression and anxiety) than boys, and that co-rumination fully mediated the impact of gender on internalising symptoms when measured cross-sectionally. The present study extends these findings by investigating the impact of co-rumination on depression in a three-wave longitudinal study of 496 adolescents aged thirteen to sixteen years old over six months. Using structural equation modelling, the hypothesis that use of co-rumination would predict depression over time was supported. However, reporting more depressive symptoms also predicted a greater use of co-rumination, showing a bi-directional effect. Further investigation revealed that stress, a previously unstudied variable in this context, fully mediates the relationship between co-rumination and depression, and depression and co-rumination. Some of the interesting gender related findings included that females reported more co-rumination than males as hypothesised. Only when a shortened version of the depression measure, including only pure internalising symptoms, was used did females show a bi-directional relationship between co-rumination and depression. Focused mediation indicated that for females stress mediated the relationship between depression and co-rumination. The coping styles of co-rumination and rumination showed a bi-directional effect on each other over time. When analysed by gender, for females rumination predicted co-rumination over time, and for males the opposite relationship was revealed that co-rumination predicted rumination. For females, being more socially anxious predicted a greater use of co- rumination over time. Investigations of why adolescents co-ruminate revealed that the majority of young people surveyed, particularly females, felt co-rumination was a helpful coping strategy. As co-rumination was been shown to be a maladaptive coping strategy leading to higher levels of stress, depression and rumination, yet is perceived as helpful by participants, interventions are needed to teach adolescents how to talk about their problems in a helpful non-ruminative manner. As a new area of investigation, a variety of fruitful avenues for future co-rumination research are discussed.