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The positive and negative rumination scale: Development and preliminary validation

Current Psychology volume 39, pages 483–499 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Two studies with data from 1671 students are presented describing the development and preliminary validation of the Positive and Negative Rumination Scale (PANRS), a brief measure with 2 s-order factors: Positive Rumination consisting of 2 first-order factors (i.e., Enjoy Happiness and Positive Coping) and Negative Rumination consisting of 3 first-order factors (i.e., Suppress Happiness, Self Deny and Negative Attribution). Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the measure’s 5 first-order and 2 s-order factors structure. Moreover, correlation analyses provided first evidence for the subscales’ differential validity: Positive Rumination showed positive correlations with positive indicators of psychological adjustment (e.g., life satisfaction) and negative correlations with negative indicators of psychological adjustment (e.g., depression), whereas Negative Rumination showed negative correlations with positive indicators of psychological adjustment (e.g., life satisfaction) and positive correlations with negative indicators of psychological adjustment (e.g., depression). In addition, all PANRS scores showed satisfactory reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) and temporal stability (test-retest). Overall the findings suggest that the PANRS is a reliable and valid instrument to assess positive and negative aspects of Rumination.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. When the number of items of a scale is less than or equal to 6, alpha values from .50 to .60 are acceptable (Hair et al. 1998; Kavadia et al. 2013).

  2. RML is not relying on the multivariate normal distribution assumption and provide sufficient power to detect misspecified models. It improves the chi-square statistic and standard errors of parameter estimates using the Satorra-Bentler procedure (Satorra and Bentler 1994).

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Funding

This study was funded by Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Research Program of China (17NDJC198YB) and Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education Planning Fund (17YJA1900144).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, 148 Tianmushan Road, Hanghou City, Zhejiang, 310028, People’s Republic of China

    Hongfei Yang, Jiaxiu Song, Jiale Lu, Xiaowei Huang, Zhaofeng Zou & Linhui Pan

  2. First affiliated hospital, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China

    Zhong Wang

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  1. Hongfei Yang
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  2. Zhong Wang
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Correspondence to Hongfei Yang.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were approved by the Research Committee of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at Zhejiang University.

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We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted.

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Hongfei Yang has received a grant from Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Research Program of China (17NDJC198YB) and a grant from Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education Planning Fund (17YJA1900144).

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Yang, H., Wang, Z., Song, J. et al. The positive and negative rumination scale: Development and preliminary validation. Curr Psychol 39, 483–499 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9950-3

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Keywords

  • Positive rumination
  • Negative rumination
  • Life satisfaction
  • Depression