The Impact Of Rumination On Depressive Symptoms In Ten Grade Students

Objective:(1) to compare the level of depressive symptoms of brooding individuals with that of reflection individuals; (2) to examine brooding and reflection as prospective predictors of depressive symptoms at the second assessment.Methods:During an initial assessment,512 high school students completed the following 3 scales at initial assessment to assess depressive symptoms, life events, brooding and reflection:(1)CES-D, (2)ALEQ-R, (3)RRS. Three months later, depressive symptoms were reassessed. Data were analyzed using t test, correlation analysis and hierarchical regression.Results:(1) there were no significant differences between boys and girls on initial depressive symptoms (t(511)= 0,30, p> 0.05), brooding (t(511)=-0.50,p> 0.05), reflection (t(511)= 0.33, p> 0.05), life events (t(511)= 0.42, p> 0.05) and depressive symptoms at the second assessment (t(511)=-1.83, p> 0.05); (2) there was an significant difference between initial assessment and the second assessment of depressive symptoms for all participants (t(511)= 4.10, p< 0.01), and there was a decrease of depressive symptoms over time. Further analysis found that depressive symptoms at the second assessment were significantly less than that of the initial assessment in boys (t(237)= 4.21. p< 0.01), while there was no significant difference of depressive symptom between initial and the second assessment in girls (t(273)= 1.53, p> 0.05); (3) life events had significant correlation with the other four variables (r= 0.20-0.42, p< 0.01),brooding significantly correlated with depressive symptoms at both assessments (r= 0.55,0.40, p< 0.01), while reflection just significantly correlated with initial depressive symptoms (r= 0.10, p< 0.01), and didn't significantly correlated with depressive symptoms at the second assessment (r= 0.03, p> 0.05); (4) there were significant differences between brooding and reflection group on initial depressive symptoms (t(83)= 2.96, p< 0.01) and depressive symptoms at the second assessment (t(82)= 3.33, p< 0.01); (5) life events (β= 0.07,t 3.56, p< 0.01) and brooding (β= 0.445, p< 0.01) were significant predictors of depressive symptoms at the second assessment, whereas the interaction of life events and brooding was not significant (β= 0.01,t＝1.01,p> 0.05); (6) life events was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms at the second assessment (β= 0.08, t= 4.59, p< 0.01), but reflection (β=-0.13, t=-0.95, p> 0.05) and the interaction of life events and brooding (β=-0.01,t=-1.49, p> 0.05) were not significant predictors of depressive symptoms at the second assessment.Conclusions:(1) the level of depressive symptoms of individuals with brooding were higher than that of individuals with reflection; (2) brooding could predict subsequent depressive symptoms, but indiciduals with higher levels of brooding were not associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms following the occurrence of life events; (3) reflection could not predict subsequent depressive symptoms.