Age Differences in Rumination, Co-Rumination, and their Association with Depressive Symptomatology
Lisa Emery & Simona Gizdarska
INTRODUCTION
RESULTS
Co-Rumination, or “extensively discussing and re-visiting problems”
with another person (Rose, 2002), is a construct that has primarily
been studied in adolescent populations. Among adolescent girls in
particular, co-rumination is paradoxically related to both closer
friendships and increased emotional problems. Given that older
adults often report both better emotion regulation strategies and
social relationships relative to those at younger ages, we conducted
an exploratory study to investigate age differences in co-rumination
and their relationship to depressive symptoms.
METHOD
Co-Rumination
Rumination
Confidante Selection
Young (Female)
Young (Male)
Old (Female)
Old (Male)
Friend
10
7
7
3
Spouse or
Romantic
Partner
2
4
5
11
Other
2
2
4
1
All married older adults reported their spouse as their primary confidante.
Age and Gender Differences in Scores:
• 27 Younger Adults (Ages 18-25; 14 Women); recruited from the
psychology department pool; All were Single
• 31 Older Adults (Ages 64-85; 17 Women); recruited from the
community
Female Male
• Marital Status of Older Adults: Single
2
0
Married
Divorced
Widowed
4
5
6
Significant effects of Age Group, F(1,55) = 10.91, p < .01; no other
effects significant (all p’s > .25).
16
11
3
1
Materials
Significant effects of Age Group, F(1,54) = 10.87, p < .01, and an Age
Group x Gender interaction, F(1,54) = 4.85, p < .05. Older women
have lower levels of Co-Rumination than the other three groups.
Relationship with DASS-21 Scores:
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
20
16
Younger Adults
Older Adults
14
Depression Score
• Modified version of the Co-Rumination Scale (Rose, 2002)
• Asked participants to nominate their most common
co-rumination partner, then rate how often they do
certain things when they are “faced with a problem”
• 18 Items rated on a 5-point scale
• “We talk about all the reasons why the problem might
have happened”
• “When my confidante has a problem, I always try to
get my confidante to tell me every detail about what
happened.”
• Ruminative Responses Scale (Treynor, Gonzalez, & NolenHoeksema , 2003)
• Asks participants to rate how often they think or do
things when they’re feeling sad or depressed
• 22 Items rated on a 4-point scale
• “Think about how alone you feel”
• “Analyze your personality to see why you are
depressed”
• The Depression Scale of the DASS-21
• Range of 0-21; higher scores indicate higher depression
symptomatology
Younger Adults
Older Adults
14
Depression Score
Participants
12
30
40
50
60
70
Rumination Score
Significant relationship in both older adults, r = .69, p < .01, and
younger adults, r = .53, p < .01.
10
8
CONCLUSIONS
6
4
2
0
20
40
60
80
Co-Rumination Score
Significant relationship in the older adults r = .48, p < .01, but not the
younger adults, r = -.19, p =.33.
Although Co-Rumination may have some protective benefits in
younger adults, this does not appear to be the case in older adults.
Several questions should be addressed more extensively in future
research, most notably how the choice of co-rumination partner
(friend vs. spouse) influences older adults’ mental health and
relationship satisfaction.
Reprints may be obtained at agelabs.appstate.edu