Skip to main content
ABCT 2024 58th Annual Convention Main banner
Psychology Tools Ad
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session
Back
Evaluation ViewAttendees 16

Spotlight Research Presentations

Culture / Ethnicity / Race

Spotlight Research 4 - How Daily Rumination Influences Negative and Positive Affect: A Multilevel Model Analysis of the Moderating Role of Culture

Friday, November 15, 2024
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM EST
Location: Franklin Hall 10, Level 4, Downtown Marriott
Earn 1 Credit
Keywords: Rumination, Culture, Emotion
Recommended Readings: Chang, E. C., Tsai, W., Sanna, LJ. (2010). Examining the relations between rumination and adjustment: Do ethnic differences exist between Asian and European Americans? Asian American Journal of Psychology. 2010;1:46–56.,  

Choi, J. H. (Steph), & Miyamoto, Y. (2022). Cultural differences in rumination and psychological correlates: The role of attribution. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 014616722210890. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221089061

,  

De Vaus, J., Hornsey, M. J., Kuppens, P., & Bastian, B. (2018). Exploring the east-west divide in prevalence of affective disorder: A case for cultural differences in coping with negative emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 22(3), 285–304. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868317736222

,   ,  

    Chair(s)

  • Yikai Xu

    Doctoral Student
    New York University
    New York, New York, United States

    • Panelist(s)

  • MS

    Michael Sun, Ph.D.

    Postdoctoral Scholar
    Dartmouth College
    Hanover, New Hampshire, United States

  • WT

    William Tsai, Ph.D.

    Assistant Professor
    New York University
    New York, New York, United States

Although research has shown that rumination is associated with worse mental health, a growing number of cross-cultural studies have found that rumination may not have the same maladaptive effects among people from interdependent cultures. However, these studies have largely been cross-sectional. The current study is the first to explore cultural differences in the associations between rumination and positive/negative affect (PA/NA) and whether these associations are moderated by ethnicity/interdependent values among a sample of Asian and European American college students using a 14-day daily diary design.

Method. 78 Asian and 41 European Americans (78% female) rated their daily use of rumination (reflective pondering, brooding, and overall rumination) and PA/NA. Interdependence was assessed by the Self-Construal Scale (Singelis, 1994). Multilevel models examined the fixed and random effects of both within-person fluctuation and between-person differences in rumination on same-day and next-day PA/NA moderated by ethnicity/interdependent values.

Results. We found evidence of cultural differences in the association between rumination and PA/NA. There was a significant within-person interaction between overall rumination and ethnicity in predicting same-day NA. Specifically, rumination was associated with greater same-day NA among European Americans (B = .61, SE = .13, p < .001), but the associations were attenuated among Asian Americans (B = .30, SE = .09, p < .001). Similarly, rumination was associated with a smaller increase in next-day NA among Asian Americans (B = .29, SE = .08, p < .001), relative to European Americans (B = .70, SE = .15, p < .001). A similar pattern of findings was found with interdependence as the moderator. The magnitude of the association between brooding and same-day PA was smaller among those with high interdependence (B = -.67, SE = .24, p < .001), relative to those with low interdependence (B = -1.68, SE = .23, p < .001).

Discussion. Overall, our findings are consistent with a growing body of research that shows rumination is associated with worse outcomes among individuals from independent cultures than those from interdependent cultures. Future recommendations and clinical implications will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Explain how daily rumination (brooding, reflective pondering, and overall rumination) is associated with daily positive and negative affect.
  2. Compare how the associations between rumination and positive/negative affect differ between Asian and European Americans.
  3. Describe how the associations between rumination and positive/negative affect vary by the level of interdependence.
  4. Explain one novel direction in examining cultural differences in cognitive process and the downstream effects on mental health.
  5. Discuss clinical implications in integrating cultural differences in cognitive process in delivery of cognitive interventions.