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Rumination as a Moderating Factor for Different Dimensions of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Adolescents with Subthreshold Depression: a Multi-Wave Longitudinal Study

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Abstract

This article reports on a longitudinal study in which we examined, across multiple waves of participants, the rumination vulnerability-stress model for the differential prediction of the dimensions of anxiety and depression. Baseline and 6-month follow-up data were obtained from 371 adolescents with subthreshold depression. According to analyses based on hierarchical linear modeling, increased rumination showed association with increased total score for depressive symptoms. The greater increases were only associated with the dimension of depressed mood, not with other symptoms of depression. Furthermore, increased rumination was associated with increases in the total score and all symptomatic dimensions of anxiety following stressful events. These findings support rumination’s potential for a transdiagnostic role as symptoms of depression and anxiety develop. While rumination may have general application concerning how symptoms of anxiety develop on each dimension, its application for diagnoses of depression is limited to assessing depressed mood, not other dimensions.

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Authors

Contributions

The study was designed by Jing Xiao, Yini He. Data were collected by Jing Xiao. Results were analyzed by Yini He, Jing Xiao, and Weiqi Li. The draft manuscript was written by Weiqi Li and Jing Xiao. Later versions of the manuscript were seen and commented upon by all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jing Xiao.

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The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and with approval of the research team’s institutional research committee.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

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Highlight

• Rumination may have transdiagnostic application concerning depressive and anxiety symptoms’ development following negative stress events.

• Rumination may have application concerning each dimension’s development in symptoms of anxiety.

• Rumination may only have particular application concerning depressed mood dimension of symptoms related to depression.

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Li, W., He, Y. & Xiao, J. Rumination as a Moderating Factor for Different Dimensions of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Adolescents with Subthreshold Depression: a Multi-Wave Longitudinal Study. Int J Ment Health Addiction (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-023-01194-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-023-01194-9

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