Specificity of parental bonding and rumination in depressive and anxious emotional distress

• Survey data from participants were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
• Low levels of maternal care predict high levels of brooding rumination.
• High levels of brooding rumination predict depression and anxiety symptoms.
• Brooding rumination fully mediates the relationship between care and symptoms.
• Cognitive variables form a pathway between parental bonding and psychopathology.

We examined how different dimensions of rumination may mediate the impact of parental bonding (lack of care and overprotectiveness) on negative emotional symptomatology (anxiety and depression). Survey data from participants were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that brooding rumination fully mediated the relationship between maternal care and depressive and anxious symptomatology. These findings suggest that to the extent that maternal caregivers are low in warmth and support, offspring are more likely to develop a brooding style of ruminative thinking associated with heightened emotional distress. This research supports the growing body of evidence suggesting that cognitive variables form a pathway between troublesome parent/child interactions and psychopathology.