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Higher Order Repetitive Negative Thinking Is More Robustly Related to Depression, Anxiety, and Mania Than Measures of Rumination or Worry

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Abstract

Background

Repetitive thinking (RT) has been defined as prolonged, recurrent thought about oneself and one’s experiences. Recent studies have shown that various measures of RT load onto a common factor and predict symptoms of depression and anxiety. The relationship with mania symptoms, however, remains underexplored. The current study examined the common versus unique variance across a wide range of measures of RT, and the relationship between measures of RT and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and mania.

Methods

Participants (N = 2088) were recruited from the United States, Australia, and the Netherlands. Participants were administered various measures of RT and measures of depression, anxiety, and mania symptoms.

Results

Single and bifactor models were examined. A bifactor model—accounting for both a common factor and unique variance within each measure—explained the data well, indicating that disorder specific measures of RT can be combined to measure a higher order RT factor. The common factor also significantly correlated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and mania.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that combining measures of RT can help public health researchers predict not only depression and anxiety, but also symptoms of mania.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Suraj Samtani & Michelle L. Moulds

  2. Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Sheri L. Johnson

  3. Department of Psychology, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany

    Thomas Ehring

  4. School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Matthew P. Hyett, Rebecca Anderson & Peter M. McEvoy

  5. Centre for Clinical Interventions, Perth, WA, Australia

    Peter M. McEvoy

Authors
  1. Suraj Samtani
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  2. Michelle L. Moulds
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  3. Sheri L. Johnson
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  4. Thomas Ehring
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  5. Matthew P. Hyett
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  6. Rebecca Anderson
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  7. Peter M. McEvoy
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Correspondence to Michelle L. Moulds.

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Conflict of Interest

Suraj Samtani, Michelle L. Moulds, Sheri L. Johnson, Thomas Ehring, Matthew P. Hyett, Rebecca Anderson, and Peter M. McEvoy declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Samtani, S., Moulds, M.L., Johnson, S.L. et al. Higher Order Repetitive Negative Thinking Is More Robustly Related to Depression, Anxiety, and Mania Than Measures of Rumination or Worry. Cogn Ther Res 46, 161–170 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-021-10235-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-021-10235-3

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