Stuck in a Loop: Rumination as a Mediator in the Relationship Between High School Bullying Victimization and Depression

Victims of bullying are more likely to engage in persistent negative thoughts about their experiences, which can include intrusive and deliberate rumination. Rumination is problematic since it can exacerbate adverse mental health outcomes over time, including depression. The current study investigated whether either of these types of rumination would mediate the association between high school victimization and depression in early adulthood. Intrusive and deliberate rumination were separately analyzed to contribute to limited research analyzing intrusive thoughts in rumination, and mixed findings implicating deliberate rumination with improved mental health outcomes. Undergraduate students from a large Canadian university (N = 485, Mage = 19.08) completed an online questionnaire assessing high school bullying victimization, event-related rumination, and depression. The results revealed that both intrusive and deliberate rumination partially mediated the relationship between high school bullying victimization and depression. These findings suggest that rumination, whether intrusive or deliberate, is a risk factor for mental health problems following victimization, which can persist in the long term. Therefore, interventions aimed at enhancing mindfulness and reducing rumination should be provided to victims of bullying to mitigate the risk of negative psychological outcomes.