Poster #136 - Anger and Depressive Rumination in Adolescence: The Role of Maternal and Individual Factors

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Rumination is defined as a perseverative thinking about causes and consequences of a negative event and passively dwelling on feelings of distress (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). In this sense, rumination is regarded as a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy since it leads to prolong and intense distress rather than release (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008). In the literature, several studies have shown that ruminative thinking increase the risk for depression (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008), anxiety (Michl et al., 2013), substance use (Willem et al., 2011) and aggression (Anestis et al., 2009). From the developmental perspective, adolescence is critical period to focus on rumination because dramatic increase and gender differences in rumination emerge around the age of 12 (Jose et al., 2008). Even, some researchers argue that gender differences in depression after the age of 14 could be explained by rumination. That’s why, it is important to identify which factors play role in rumination during adolescence to provide insight for further prevention and intervention programs. In the current study, the role of maternal parenting practices and co-rumination between mother and adolescents on adolescent’s anger and depressive rumination were investigated. Also, how the effects of parenting and co-rumination change depending on interplay with adolescent’s temperament were explored.
253 adolescents (Mage =13. 19 years) and their mothers participated in the study. The adolescents filled out Children’s Response Style Questionnaire-Rumination Subscale (Abela, Rochon, & Vanderbilt, 2000), Children’s Anger Rumination Scale (Smith, et al., 2016), Maternal Psychological Control Scale (Barber et al., 2007), Parental Overprotection Scale (Arrindell et. al., 1999; Doğruyol, 2008) and Co-Rumination Questionnaire (Waller et al., 2010). Mothers were asked to answer Early Adolescent’s Temperament Questionnaire (Ellis & Rothbart, 2001), and Co-Rumination Questionnaire.
The study hypothesis were tested with four set of hierarchical multiple regression for each dependent variable. As predicted, the results yielded that anger and depressive rumination was more common among girls than boys. Also, perceived maternal psychological control and negative affectivity of adolescents positively predicted both kinds of rumination. Interestingly, it was found that effects of co-rumination showed changes depending on whose problems are discussed. That is, based on adolescent-reports, co-rumination on adolescent’s problems was positively associated with anger rumination, while co-rumination on mother’s problems positively predicted depressive rumination (see Table1). In addition to main effects, the results yielded significant interaction effects. Firstly, based on mother-reports, co-rumination on adolescent problems predicted higher anger (B= .68, SE= .14, p < .001) and depressive rumination (B= .45, SE= .14, p < .01) only for adolescents with high effortful control. Also, perceived maternal overprotection differently affected adolescents who differed in negative affectivity. That is, for adolescents with high negative affectivity (B= -.38, SE= .14, p < .01), overprotection was negatively associated with anger rumination, whereas for those with low negative affect (B= .61, SE= .14, p < .001; see figure 1), overprotection was positively associated with anger rumination. In the light of the literature, the findings will be discussed by focusing on cultural and practical issues.

Authors

• Sevinç Akkaya, Middle East Technical University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sibel Kazak Berument, Middle East Technical University
  Presenting Author