The effects of rumination on automatic thoughts and depressive symptoms

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of rumination (reflective pondering and brooding) on automatic thoughts (both negative and positive) and depressive symptoms. University students (N=183; 96 men) completed the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Revised (ATQ-R), and Response Style Scale (RSS). We conducted a path analysis which included gender as a factor. The results revealed that brooding was associated with negative automatic thoughts. Negative automatic thoughts' contributed to the aggravation of depressive symptoms. In contrast, reflective pondering was associated with positive automatic thoughts. Positive automatic thoughts contributed to the reduction of depressive symptoms. These results indicate that rumination does not affect depressive symptoms directly. We suggest that rumination affects depressive symptoms indirectly through automatic thoughts, and that there are gender differences in the influence process.