Abstract
Alcohol abuse among college students continues to be a large societal problem in need of further study. This project investigated the influence of different types of negative repetitive thought (NRT) on alcohol use and binging behavior among undergraduates. Specifically, angry rumination, depressive rumination, co-rumination, and worry were examined. An initial exploratory factor analysis supported the distinctiveness of these four forms of NRT. With respect to quantity of weekly drinking, worry was significantly associated with less alcohol use among drinkers whereas angry rumination was associated with greater weekly usage. The effect of co-rumination was moderated by sex such that higher levels of co-rumination was associated with less weekly drinking in men but more weekly drinking in women. The tendency to co-ruminate was also significantly associated with of being a binge drinker, and demonstrated similar gender moderation. Higher levels of worry were associated with less binge drinking among women, but no association between worry and binging was present among men. The implications for these findings in the study of NRT and alcohol use are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The Response Styles Questionnaire can also be used to create brooding and pondering subscales. These subscales were explored in the present study. However, the full scale and both subscales were not significantly associated with drinking behavior in our sample. In the interest of brevity, we present only the full scale results.
Positive regression coefficients in the prediction of the count portion of the model indicate a positive association between the predictor and outcome; higher scores predict higher counts. However counter-intuitively, positive regression coefficients in the prediction of the zero inflation portion of the model indicate a positive association between the predictor and probability of a zero count; higher score predict zero (lower) scores.
References
Ashton, W. A., & Fuehrer, A. (1993). Effects of gender and gender role identification on participant and type of social support resource and support seeking. Sex Roles, 28, 461–476.
Beck, A. T., & Steer, R. A. (1993). Beck anxiety inventory manual. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corp.
Calmes, C. A., & Roberts, J. E. (2008). Rumination in interpersonal relationships: Does co-rumination explain gender differences in emotional distress and relationship satisfaction among college students? Cognitive Therapy and Research, 32, 577–590.
Caselli, G., Bortolai, C., Leoni, M., Rovetto, F., & Spada, M. M. (2008). Rumination in problem drinkers. Addiction Research & Theory, 16, 564–571.
Caselli, G., Ferretti, C., Leoni, M., Rebecchi, D., Rovetto, F., & Spada, M. M. (2010). Rumination as a predictor of drinking behavior in alcohol abusers: A prospective study. Addiction, 105, 1041–1048.
Collins, R. L., Parks, G. A., & Marlatt, G. A. (1985). Social determinants of alcohol consumption: The effects of social interaction and model status on self-administration of alcohol. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 189–200.
Cooper, M. L., Russell, M., Skinner, J. B., Frone, M. R., & Mudar, P. (1992). Stress and alcohol use: Moderating effects of gender, coping and alcohol expectancies. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101, 139–152.
Falk, D. E., Yi, H., & Hilton, M. E. (2008). Age of onset and temporal sequencing of lifetime DSM-IV alcohol use disorders relative to comorbid mood and anxiety disorders. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 94, 234–245.
Hingson, R. W., Heeren, T., Zakocs, R. C., Kopstein, A., & Wechsler, H. (2002). Magnitude of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among US college students ages 18–24. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 63, 136–144.
Jennison, K. M. (2004). The short-term effects and unintended long-term consequences of binge drinking in college: A 10-year follow-up study. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 30, 659–684.
Meyer, T. J., Miller, M. L., Metzger, R. L., & Borkovec, T. D. (1990). Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28, 487–495.
Moulds, M. L., Kandris, E., Starr, S., & Wong, A. C. M. (2007). The relationship between rumination, avoidance and depression in a non-clinical sample. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 25, 251–261.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2004). Gender differences in risk factors and consequences for alcohol use and problems. Clinical Psychology Review, 24, 981–1010.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Harrell, Z. A. (2002). Rumination, depression, and alcohol use: Tests of gender differences. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 16, 391–403.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Morrow, J. (1991). A prospective study of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after a natural disaster: The 1989 loma prieta earthquake. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 115–121.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Stice, E., Wade, E., & Bohon, C. (2007). Reciprocal relations between rumination and bulimic, substance abuse, and depressive symptoms in female adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 198–207.
O’Malley, P. M., & Johnston, L. D. (2002). Epidemiology of alcohol and other drug use among American college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol Supplement, 14, 23–39.
Perkins, H. W. (2002). Social norms and the prevention of alcohol misuse in collegiate contexts. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 14, 164–172.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 7, 385–401.
Rose, A. J. (2002). Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. Child Development, 73, 1830–1843.
Russell, J. A., & Mehrabian, A. (1975). The mediating role of emotions in alcohol use. Journal of Studies on Alcohol & Drugs, 36, 1508–1536.
Shoal, G. D., Castaneda, J. O., & Giancola, P. R. (2005). Worry moderates the relation between negative affectivity and affect-related substance use in adolescent males: A prospective study of maladaptive emotional self-regulation. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 475–485.
Simons, J. S., Neal, D. J., & Gaher, R. M. (2006). Risk for marijuana-related problems among college students: An application of zero-inflated binomial regression. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 32, 41–53.
StataCorp. (2009). Stata statistical software: Release 11. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.
Sukhodolsky, D. G., Golub, A., & Cromwell, E. N. (2001). Development and validation of the anger rumination scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 689–700.
Watkins, E. R. (2008). Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 163–206.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect-the PANAS scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070.
Wechsler, H., Lee, J. E., Kuo, M., Seibring, M., Nelson, T. F., & Lee, H. (2002). Trends in college binge drinking during a period of increased prevention efforts: Findings from 4 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study Surveys: 1993–2001. Journal of American College Health, 50, 203–217.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ciesla, J.A., Dickson, K.S., Anderson, N.L. et al. Negative Repetitive Thought and College Drinking: Angry Rumination, Depressive Rumination, Co-Rumination, and Worry. Cogn Ther Res 35, 142–150 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-011-9355-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-011-9355-1