Poster #136 - The moderating role of Co-rumination on the Association between Friend Support and Adolescent emotional Distress

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

During the transition from primary to secondary education, adolescents increasingly seek support from each other. Disclosing personal thoughts and feelings often relieves personal distress and alleviates feelings of depression and anxiety, but when conversations are characterized by an excessive focus on problems and negative feelings, adolescent best friends may be engaging in a communication style called co-rumination (Rose, 2002; Rose et al., 2014; Rose et al., 2016). The continued focus on negative affect is assumed to weaken adolescents' problem-solving abilities and reduce the positive effect of peer social support (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008; Rose, 2002). Indeed, accumulating research suggests that the process of co-rumination serves as an underlying mechanism in close supportive adolescent dyadic friendships that causes the positive effect of social support to diminish (Spendelow et al., 2017).
This study aimed to test the associations of best friend support with the continuation of adolescent symptoms of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress (i.e. emotional distress) from primary to secondary education for high versus low co-ruminating adolescents.
A final sample of 187 adolescents (52.9% girls) with a mean age of 13 years old in the first grade of secondary school (SD = 0.72) was included in our sample. Self-reported emotional distress was assessed among adolescents on two occasions: in the last grade of primary education and the first grade of secondary education using the Revised-Child Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Maastricht University Stress Instrument for Children. Self-reported best friend support and co-rumination were assessed in the first grade of secondary education using the Network of Relationships Inventory and an abbreviated version of the Co-Rumination Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using a path analysis model in Mplus version 8.0.
Results indicated that when adolescents engage in low to medium levels of co-rumination with their best friends, support from this friend decreased subsequent symptoms of depression (Figure 1a) and perceived stress (Figure b). When co-rumination levels were relatively high, best friend support no longer significantly diminishes subsequent symptoms of depression and perceived stress. There was no interaction effect of co-rumination on the association between support and anxiety symptoms.
Although our study shows that venting emotions to friends can indeed be helpful, it is recommended that prevention and treatment programs targeting adolescent mental health nuance their advice to seek peer support. Programs might help to reduce adolescent emotional distress by learning adolescents to recognize when they are heavily co-ruminating and how to alter this into adaptive and healthy support, especially since adolescents themselves indicate a preference for informal help from friends (Singh et al., 2019).

Authors

• Steffie van der Mey-Baijens, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  Presenting Author

• Marieke J.M. Buil, Rotterdam Universitty of Applied Sciences

• Patricia Vuijk, Hogeschool Rotterdam

• Kim Bul, Coventry University

• Marit Sijbrandij, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Athanasios Maras, ARQ Nationaal Psychotrauma Centrum

• Pol Van Lier, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam