Individual Differences in Shame-proneness and Trait Rumination as Predictors of Depressive Symptoms

Several studies showed that shame has a unique contribution to depressive symptoms. However, little is known about the mechanisms of this association. In this study we examined whether trait rumination moderates the relationship between shame- proneness and depressive symptoms. The results indicate that trait rumination is a significant moderator meaning that shame- prone individuals who ruminate frequently express more severe depressive symptoms. However, the explained variance in depressive symptoms increased only from 21% to 27% after taking into account the interaction effect, indicating that rumination potentiates to a little extent this association.