Rumination and Prospective Changes in Depressive Symptoms

According to the response styles theory (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), rumination contributes to both the development and maintenance of depressive symptoms. In this study, we examined the vulnerability and maintenance hypotheses in a multi-wave prospective study of young adults with levels of negative events and depressive symptoms assessed every week for 7 weeks. We found no support for the vulnerability hypothesis. Specifically, levels of rumination (brooding or reflective rumination) did not moderate the link between weekly negative events and weekly changes in depressive symptoms. In contrast, we did find support for the maintenance hypothesis. Specifically, levels of brooding and reflective rumination were related to elevated depressive symptom levels across the follow-up. Consistent with previous research, the magnitude of the effect for brooding was stronger than that for reflective rumination.