Self-evaluative and emotion processes linked with brooding rumination among adolescents

Rumination has been linked with a number of deleterious outcomes, though relatively little is known about self-evaluative and emotion processes by which it develops. The current investigation uses a prospective, longitudinal design and self-report measures to examine the role of contingent self-worth, perfectionism, negative emotion beliefs, and suppression of negative emotion in predicting the development of brooding and reflective forms of rumination among 168 adolescents (98 girls, 79.6% European-American) undergoing the transition to high school (Mage = 13.58). Results of structural equation modeling indicate that self-evaluative vulnerability (i.e., self-worth contingencies, perfectionism) and negative emotion beliefs, but not the suppression of negative emotion, predict brooding (but not reflective) rumination. The current study demonstrates how brooding is intertwined with views of self and core assumptions about emotion.