Exploring the Role of Adolescents’ Co-Rumination With Mothers and Friends: Longitudinal Associations With Depressive Symptoms

Sammanfattning: Co-rumination is a communication process that has been linked to depressive symptoms among adolescents. The first aim of this study was to examine the directionality of the associations, regarding co-rumination with peers and mothers, as well as comparing co-rumination about the mothers’ and the adolescents’ problems. The second aim was to investigate if gender moderates the associations between co-rumination with peers and depressive symptoms. We used self-report data from two measurement points with a one year interval from the 5-year longitudinal “Three City Study”. Participants were pupils aged 15-17 years at the first measurement point (n = 2,914) and mothers to a subset of the adolescents (n = 44). The results showed that co-rumination with peers was associated with increases in depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were associated with decreases in co-rumination with mothers about the mothers’ problems. Preliminary analyses showed that co-rumination with mothers about the mothers’ problems was correlated with co-ruminating about adolescents’ problems. The findings support the notion that co-rumination, especially with friends, is related to depressive symptoms among youth. This, as well as the ways in which mothers communicate with their adolescents, might be important to consider when discussing interventions for adolescents’ depressive symptoms.