Abstract
Background: Co-rumination is the process of problem discussion within a dyadic relationship that is repetitive and unproductive with a focus on negative affect. Co-rumination has been found to have adaptive and maladaptive facets, which result in it being positively correlated with both negative affect and friendship quality. To date research has focused upon relationships between co-rumination and depression within children and adolescents using cross-sectional designs. Aim: To assess the relationship between co-rumination, depression and anxiety in adults using a prospective design. Methodology: This study used a two-wave prospective design where adult participants were asked to complete an online survey (comprising measures of rumination, co-rumination, depression, generalized anxiety and social anxiety) at two time points three months apart. Participants rated co-rumination in relation to the confidant they most often discuss problems with (e.g. same-sex best friend) Findings: Positive correlations were found between the affects depression and generalised anxiety, and co-rumination at Time 1 which became non-significant when controlling for rumination. At Time 2, generalised anxiety exhibited this trend; however relationships between depression and co-rumination remained significant when controlling for rumination. No relationship was found between social anxiety and co-rumination at either time point. When results were split by confidant type, positive correlations were found between same-sex friend co-rumination and depression and generalised anxiety. However, significant positive correlations between these variables were only found at Time 2 for Romantic partner dyads. Hierarchical linear regression found that co-rumination at Time 1 predicted generalised and social anxiety at Time 2 but it was not found to be predictive for depression. Conclusions: Cross-sectional correlational analysis supports prior findings in the field. However prospective analysis indicated that co-rumination predicts generalised and social anxiety but not depression. Differences in the relationship between co-rumination and affect are observed between different confidant types. Implications of these findings are discussed.