Meaning Making and Rumination: The Roles of Threat Evaluation and Personality

Meaning making has been referred to as a coping skill for overcoming stressful experiences. Researchers have found rumination influences meaning making, but the detailed mechanism have not been clarified. The present study examined the factors that influence rumination and meaning making using six hypothetical scenarios of various stressful events with specific contexts. Participants (n=780) completed a questionnaire with one of six hypothetical scenarios. As a result, rumination frequency was high so that evaluation of event threat was high, self-rumination was high, and executive function was low. Also, evaluation of event threat inhibited making meaning, but by mediating rumination, meaning making was promoted.