Co-Rumination Is Associated with Depression Only If One Holds Positive Beliefs About Rumination

Rumination, repetitive thought about one’s circumstances, has been identified as a risk factor for depression. Positive beliefs about rumination also conveys risk factor for depression. Both rumination and positive beliefs about rumination are independently maladaptive, not depending on the other risk factor. Less research has examined co-rumination, which is rumination with another person. The goal of this study was to examine whether co-rumination’s association with depression depends on positive beliefs about rumination. Participants (N = 151) were undergraduate students recruited at a large southeastern university. Validated measures were used to assess depression (PHQ-9), co-rumination (CRQ), and positive beliefs about rumination (PBRS). Regression with bias-corrected boot-strapping was used to test whether positive beliefs about rumination moderated the association between co-rumination and depression. There was an interaction between co-rumination and positive beliefs about rumination, β = .01, confidence intervals = .001, .015. Co-rumination was associated with depression only when positive beliefs about rumination scores were 21 or higher. Results suggest that co-rumination is associated with depression for individuals with higher than average positive beliefs about rumination. Although other research has not found that beliefs about rumination affect the consequences of rumination, it appears that it does affect the consequences when rumination is done with another person. Clinically, it is important to assess whether rumination is done alone or with others as well as beliefs about rumination for patients who co-ruminate