Moderating Effects of Brooding and Co-Rumination on the Relationship Between Stress and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence: A Multi-Wave Study

The current study investigated brooding and co-rumination as moderators of the relationship between interpersonal and noninterpersonal stress and depressive symptom trajectories. The sample consisted of 368 early adolescents ages 9 to 15 (M = 11.72, 63 % female) who completed self-report measures of brooding, co-rumination, stress, and depressive symptoms at baseline with follow-up assessments of stress and depressive symptoms at 3, 8, and 12 months post-baseline. Data were analyzed using multi-level modeling. Results showed that the association between interpersonal stress and depressive symptoms was stronger for adolescents high on brooding, compared to adolescents low on brooding. Sex moderated a co-rumination x stress interaction, with girls high on co-rumination and boys low on co-rumination reporting the highest levels of depressive symptoms when faced with interpersonal stress across the 1-year study period. These findings shed light on pathways to depressive symptoms in early adolescence and suggest that adolescent boys and girls may differ in these pathways.