Stability of depressive ruminations and its relationship with stressors among female undergraduates

Abstract

Some studies have suggested that depressive ruminations are stable over time, whereas other studies have indicated that ruminations have state-like characteristic, with no consistent stability of ruminations. Moreover, there is little research on the interactive relationship between ruminations and stressors, even though past studies have implied the possibility of such a relationship. We conducted a three-wave, longitudinal study to investigate the stability of ruminations and the interactive relationship between ruminations and stressors. Participants were female college studentsN53, Mean age 18.981.15 years. Results indicated absolute and relative stability between the interval T1 and T2, but only relative stability in the interval between T2 and T3 and the interval between T1 and T3 interval. Moreover, the results of path analysis suggested an interactive relationship between ruminations and stressors.