Cited by 694Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesMental Health Research TopicsChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Rumination as a mechanism linking stressful life events to symptoms of depression and anxiety: Longitudinal evidence in early adolescents and adults.

Open access
Michl, Louisa C., McLaughlin, Katie A., Shepherd, Kathrine, Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan·2013·Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Abstract

Rumination is a well-established risk factor for the onset of major depression and anxiety symptomatology in both adolescents and adults. Despite the robust associations between rumination and internalizing psychopathology, there is a dearth of research examining factors that might lead to a ruminative response style. In the current study, we examined whether social environmental experiences were associated with rumination. Specifically, we evaluated whether self-reported exposure to stressful life events predicted subsequent increases in rumination. We also investigated whether rumination served as a mechanism underlying the longitudinal association between self-reported stressful life events and internalizing symptoms. Self-reported stressful life events, rumination, and symptoms of depression and anxiety were assessed in 2 separate longitudinal samples. A sample of early adolescents (N = 1,065) was assessed at 3 time points spanning 7 months. A sample of adults (N = 1,132) was assessed at 2 time points spanning 12 months. In both samples, self-reported exposure to stressful life events was associated longitudinally with increased engagement in rumination. In addition, rumination mediated the longitudinal relationship between self-reported stressors and symptoms of anxiety in both samples and the relationship between self-reported life events and symptoms of depression in the adult sample. Identifying the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms that explain a greater propensity for rumination following stressors remains an important goal for future research. This study provides novel evidence for the role of stressful life events in shaping characteristic responses to distress, specifically engagement in rumination, highlighting potentially useful targets for interventions aimed at preventing the onset of depression and anxiety.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/a0031994

Cites

102 of 102 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In populations with higher levels of anxiety, anticipatory thoughts may foster excessive and uncontrollable concern and compulsive or automatic actions to alleviate anxiety.

    “In populations with higher levels of anxiety, these anticipatory thoughts may foster: 1) excessive and uncontrollable concern in the form of ruminating thoughts that perpetuate and increase anxiety, leading to a “descending spiral”; 2) compulsive or automatic actions to alleviate anxiety, often accompanied by self-judgment which may also perpetuate the descending spiral [13, 14].”

    From Dispositional mindfulness, anticipation and abstinence symptoms related to hypnotic dependence among insomniac women who seek treatment: A cross-sectional study (2018) · cites this paper as [13]

    The General Discussion (page unavailable) reports that rumination mediated the association between stressful life events and later anxiety symptoms in adolescents and adults, supporting the rumination–anxiety portion. It does not establish that anticipatory thoughts cause uncontrollable concern or compulsive or automatic anxiety-relieving actions accompanied by self-judgment. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Rumination has consistently been associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms.

    “Rumination has been defined as a perserverative focus on one’s symptoms of distress (Nolen-Hoeksema 1991) and has consistently been associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms (Michl et al. 2013; Nolan et al. 1998; Segerstrom et al. 2000).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Michl, L. C., McLaughlin, K. A., Shepherd, K., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S.
Affiliations
  • Boston Children's Hospital (US)
  • Kent State University (US)
Venue
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Published
2013-05
Volume
122
Issue
2
Pages
339-352
ISSN
  • 0021-843X (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1846
OpenAlex
W2062427232
Cited by
694
References
96
Citations by year
2026: 41 · 2025: 70 · 2024: 75 · 2023: 75 · 2022: 60 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 44 · 2018: 50 · 2017: 48 · 2016: 50 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 29 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 1
FWCI
54.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Abnormal Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH092526)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
Keywords
rumination, life events, depression, anxiety, internalizing problems, mediation, early adolescents, adults, social environment, risk factors for depression, depression prevention
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Psychology, Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Anxiety, Child, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Internal-External Control, Life Change Events, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Stress, Psychological, Thinking, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review