(PS5-86) The Moderating Role of Ruminative Subtypes on Youth Internalizing Across Time

Depression and anxiety are some of the most commonly diagnosed disorders in adolescents, and early onset psychopathology is known to be a predictor of more severe progression and worsened clinical outcomes over time. Despite this prevalence, current work exploring longitudinal trajectories of internalizing symptoms in youth remains limited. Past research has implicated ruminative thinking (i.e., a repetitive, dysfunctional focus on negative symptoms) as a strong predictor of depression and internalizing symptoms in adults and adolescents. Subtypes of rumination, such as brooding and reflective rumination, are thought to have differing effects on internalizing symptoms. Specifically, it is hypothesized that brooding rumination’s passive focus on negative emotions contributes to higher internalizing symptom severity, whereas reflective rumination’s active, solution-oriented focus may lead to decreased levels of internalizing symptoms over time. 

This project aimed to examine whether ruminative subtypes longitudinally moderated the relationship between internalizing symptoms across time in a sample of adolescents. We examined longitudinal data in a sample of 355 highschool students aged 16-21 from diverse schools in suburban Chicago and Los Angeles across 5 years (T1-T5). Subtypes of rumination (brooding and reflective) were assessed using the Rumination Response Scale (RRS). Internalizing symptoms were evaluated using interviewer ratings of severity for depressive and anxiety disorders from the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV (SCID). We examined whether brooding rumination moderated the relationship between internalizing symptoms at T1 and T5, and whether reflective rumination moderated the relationship between internalizing symptoms at T1 and T5. Consistent with previous research, we hypothesized that high levels of brooding would lead to higher symptom severity as compared to low levels of brooding, and that high levels of reflection would lead to attenuated symptom severity as compared to low levels of reflection, at T5. 

We found that while brooding rumination did not moderate internalizing symptoms across time, reflective rumination significantly moderated internalizing symptom severity over time such that high reflective rumination led to worsened symptoms (β = 0.030, SE = 0.013, t(354) = 2.29, p < 0.022). These findings were contrary to our hypotheses and we believe they can be attributed to the perseverative nature of rumination as a whole. While reflective rumination is a solution-oriented process, it may be that simply expending more effort by repeatedly thinking about solutions can exacerbate symptoms on its own. These findings also suggest that interventions targeting specific ruminative subtypes, such as perseverative reflection, in treatment could help mitigate symptoms of internalizing disorders. The current study highlights the importance of continued research that aims to understand the role of ruminative subtypes in internalizing disorder outcomes among youth.