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Rumination, a cognitive process that involves passively and repetitively focusing on negative feelings and their consequences, has been linked to negative emotional outcomes. Previous research suggests that rumination may lead to deleterious outcomes through prolonging emotional reactivity; however, evidence supporting the link between rumination and reactivity has been mixed. In the present study, we examined the relationship between state and trait rumination and multi-modal emotional reactivity (i.e., hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, autonomic nervous system, subjective experience). Fifty undergraduates participated in a social evaluative laboratory stressor. They also reported on their general tendency to ruminate and their use of rumination in response to this particular laboratory stressor. State, but not trait, rumination was associated with increases in cortisol and negative affect. Findings underscore the importance of multi-modal assessment of emotional reactivity and suggest important implications for rumination following a stressor.

The high degree of comorbidity among mental disorders has generated interest in identifying transdiagnostic processes associated with multiple types of psychopathology. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema conceptualized rumination as one such transdiagnostic process associated with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, binge eating, and self-injurious behavior. The degree to which rumination accounts for the co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, however, has never been tested. We used a sample of early adolescents (N = 1,065) assessed at 3 time points spanning 7 months to examine (a) the reciprocal prospective associations between rumination and aggressive behavior in adolescents, (b) whether rumination explained the longitudinal associations of aggressive behavior with depression and anxiety symptoms, and (c) gender differences in these associations. Rumination predicted increases over time in aggressive behavior, and aggression was associated with increases in rumination over time only for boys. Rumination fully mediated the longitudinal association of aggression with subsequent anxiety symptoms and of both depression and anxiety symptoms with subsequent aggression in boys but not girls. Rumination did not explain the association between aggression and subsequent depressive symptoms for either boys or girls. These findings provide novel evidence for the role of rumination as a transdiagnostic factor underlying transitions between internalizing and externalizing symptoms among males during early adolescence. Interventions aimed at reducing rumination may have beneficial influences on multiple forms of psychopathology and on the development of comorbidity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), a measure of the parasympathetic nervous systems control over the heart, is often negatively related to maladaptive emotional outcomes. Recent work suggests that quadratic relationships involving these factors may be present; however, research has not investigated gender differences in these nonlinear functions. To address this gap, the current study tested for quadratic relationships between resting vmHRV and depression and positive affect while investigating gender differences in these relationships. Significant quadratic effects were found between resting vmHRV and reports of both depression symptoms and positive affect in women but not men. Specifically, the lowest levels of depression and the highest levels of positive affect were found at moderate vmHRV in women. These results suggest that examinations of vmHRVs nonlinear associations require the consideration of gender. Our findings are interpreted based on proposed differential neuropsychological mechanisms of vmHRV in men versus women.

Vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), a measure of the parasympathetic nervous system's control over the heart, is often negatively related to maladaptive emotional outcomes. Recent work suggests that quadratic relationships involving these factors may be present; however, research has not investigated gender differences in these nonlinear functions. To address this gap, the current study tested for quadratic relationships between resting vmHRV and depression and positive affect while investigating gender differences in these relationships. Significant quadratic effects were found between resting vmHRV and reports of both depression symptoms and positive affect in women but not men. Specifically, the lowest levels of depression and the highest levels of positive affect were found at moderate vmHRV in women. These results suggest that examinations of vmHRV's nonlinear associations require the consideration of gender. Our findings are interpreted based on proposed differential neuropsychological mechanisms of vmHRV in men versus women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rumination (negative thinking about the past) and worry (anxious apprehension) are two forms of repetitive thinking associated with psychopathology. Prior research indicates that rumination and worry have both distinct and overlapping features, but the extent to which there are separable groups of individuals who engage in rumination, worry, or both has yet to be examined. We used latent profile analysis, a person-centered statistical technique, to examine profiles of repetitive thinkers in two samples (ns = 635 and 755). In both studies, profiles emerged of individuals who rarely ruminate or worry (low repetitive thinkers), individuals who primarily ruminate (ruminators), individuals who primarily worry (worriers), and individuals who frequently ruminate and worry (high repetitive thinkers). In Study 2, a fifth profile of average repetitive thinkers also emerged. Across both samples, high repetitive thinkers showed the highest levels of depression and anxiety symptoms, followed by worriers and ruminators, and then by low repetitive thinkers. In Study 2, the average repetitive thinkers fell below the ruminators and worriers but above the low repetitive thinkers. Thus, there are distinct groups of ruminators and worriers, but individuals who engage in both rumination and worry exhibit the worst outcomes. As such, these findings support adopting a person-centered approach to better understand repetitive thinking styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite growing interest in the role of regulatory processes in clinical disorders, it is not clear whether certain cognitive emotion regulation strategies play a more central role in psychopathology than others. Similarly, little is known about whether these strategies have effects transdiagnostically. We examined the relationship between four cognitive emotion regulation strategies (rumination, thought suppression, reappraisal, and problem-solving) and symptoms of three psychopathologies (depression, anxiety, and eating disorders) in an undergraduate sample (N=252). Maladaptive strategies (rumination, suppression), compared to adaptive strategies (reappraisal, problem-solving), were more strongly associated with psychopathology and loaded more highly on a latent factor of cognitive emotion regulation. In addition, this latent factor of cognitive emotion regulation was significantly associated with symptoms of all three disorders. Overall, these results suggest that the use of maladaptive strategies might play a more central role in psychopathology than the non-use of adaptive strategies and provide support of a transdiagnostic view of cognitive emotion regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]