Elsevier

Behavior Therapy

Volume 48, Issue 3, May 2017, Pages 403-412
Behavior Therapy

An Experimental Investigation of Co-rumination, Problem Solving, and Distraction

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2016.11.013Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Co-rumination significantly differed from distraction and problem solving conditions.

  • Co-rumination differed on negative affect, sadness, and anxiety, but not hostility.

  • There were no significant differences amongst groups on positive affect.

Abstract

Co-rumination involves excessive dwelling on negative aspects of problems within a dyadic relationship (Rose, 2002). While research has focused on the tendency to co-ruminate within particular relationships, we were interested in examining the behavior of co-rumination outside the context of a preexisting relationship. Using an experimental manipulation of co-rumination, the primary goal of this study was to experimentally test the effects of co-rumination and examine its associations with negative and positive affectivity. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three interviewing style conditions: a co-ruminative style, a problem-solving style, or a distracting style. Results revealed that the co-rumination condition significantly differed from both the distraction and problem-solving conditions on overall negative affect, sadness, and anxiety, but not on hostility. There were no significant differences among groups on positive affect. In conclusion, this investigation revealed detrimental effects of co-ruminative behavior even between strangers.

Section snippets

measurement of co-rumination

To date, research on co-rumination has primarily focused on the self-reported tendency to co-ruminate either at the trait or daily level. Individual self-report on co-rumination may not reflect actual behavior, and verifying the results with other methods is important. Recently, some investigators have examined the more immediate effects of daily co-ruminative behavior rather than examining self-reported trait co-rumination. Utilizing a daily diary paradigm, White and Shih (2012) found that

participants

Participants were 143 undergraduates between ages 18 and 55 recruited from a large midwestern university. The participants were 56% female and were 80% Caucasian, 6% African American, 6% Asian American, 1% Native American, 1% Hispanic/Latino, 4% Biracial, and 2% Other.

procedure

Participants came to the laboratory to complete the experiment in exchange for psychology course credit. Individuals were informed that the experiment examined how they have been coping with stressors in their life, with a

Participant Disclosure

The degree to which the participants disclosed information and fully participated in the interview were examined and there were no significant differences across conditions (see Table 1, top).

Characteristics of Stressor

In order to ensure that the three conditions were initially equal in regards to the discussion of the stressor, several variables regarding the stressor were examined: the threat of the stressor, the degree that the stressor was achievement oriented, and the degree that the stressor was an interpersonally

Discussion

The present study investigated the effects of co-rumination on affectivity among adults. Although co-rumination has been studied in relation to both adaptive and maladaptive effects, most of the research has relied on self-report of co-rumination. Although prior research has observed dyads co-ruminating in the laboratory, the current study was the first study to experimentally manipulate co-rumination in the laboratory. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three interviewing style

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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  • Cited by (10)

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    Laura C. Hruska is currently affiliated with the Syracuse VA Medical Center, Syracuse, NY.

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