Relationship Between Rumination And Related Factors In Depressive Disorder Patients

Rumination has been widely studied and is a crucial component in the study of cognitive vulnerabilities to depression. It refers to the method which the individual used in response of depressed mood. Rumination consists of repetitively thinking about the causes, consequences, and symptoms of one's negative affect, rather than to focus on how to avoid these situations to happen. It has evolved as a critical construct in understanding the development and persistence of depressed mood. However, it remains unclear how rumination works and relates to negative automatic thoughts and coping. In addition, research on rumination is just in its starting stage in China. The purpose of this research was to confirm the structure of rumination, develop the measurement tool, and test the relationship between rumination, negative automatic thought, coping style and depressive disorder symptoms.Subjects were 581 university students and 278 depressive disorder patients, using interview, questionnaire survey method of data collection. Three studies were conducted in this paper.The first part is to revise the Stress Reactive Rumination Scale (SRRS). We used the scale that was widely used in the foreign countries, according to Chinese traditional culture. We adopted structural interview and questionnaire method.In the second part, the correlation research among rumination, negative automatic thought, and depressive disorder symptoms is conduct. We collected data by using several questionnaires to assess potential moderating effect of rumination on negative automatic thought and depressive disorder symptoms.In the third part of our research, we collected data by using several questionnaires. We verified the mediating effect of coping style on rumination and depressive disorder symptoms by analyzing structure equation models.Several findings as followings:(1) The reliability and validity of revised SRRS were good not only for university students but also for depressive disorder patients. The revised SRRS could be used as an effective tool in psychological research.(2) Negative automatic thought have significant predictability on depressive disorder symptoms. Both the total score and the factor scores of rumination predicted depressive disorder symptoms directly.(3) Rumination was a moderator between negative automatic thought and depressive disorder symptoms. That is, the interaction of rumination and negative automatic thought could predict the severity of depressive disorder.(4) Rumination had positive predictability on negative coping style and depressive symptoms. Rumination had negative predictability on positive coping style.(5) Coping style was a partial mediator between rumination and depressive symptoms.