Abstract
Empirical evidence from experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies has suggested that depressive ruminations prolong and intensify depression. Previous published research has suggested that rumination contributes to the development of stressors, and that the experience of stressors enhances the level of rumination. The purpose of the present 2-wave longitudinal study was to investigate how the reciprocal relationship between rumination and stressors is associated with depression. Adults (N=111; mean age 44.30±11.34 years) completed instruments that assessed rumination and depression at baseline (T1). Then, rumination, depression and stressors were assessed 7 months later (T2). Structural equation modeling indicated that rumination at baseline was not directly associated with depression 7 months later, but stressors that had been experienced during the intervening 7 months fully mediated the effects of rumination on depression. Moreover, the level of rumination and depression at baseline was associated with greater stressor, which in turn intensified rumination and depression 7 months later.
