Abstract
Repetitive negative thinking (RNT; e.g., rumination and worry) is a key-factor involved in the maintenance of emotional problems like depression and anxiety. Recently, the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ) was developed as a content-independent measure of RNT. The current study investigated the validity of this new measure in predicting depressive symptoms prospectively. Eighty-one students completed measures of depressive symptoms, depressive rumination and repetitive negative thinking. Depressive symptoms were re-assessed 3 years later (40 months follow-up). Results showed that repetitive negative thinking as measured by the PTQ predicts depressive symptoms at follow-up, even when taking into account baseline depressive symptoms and rumination. The results suggest that the PTQ has good (prospective) predictive validity for depressed mood and reconfirm RNT’s role in the course of emotional complaints.
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Notes
Given that scores on the rumination measure (RRS) and the PTQ measure were correlated, controlling for rumination may have induced spurious results. Therefore, all analyses were repeated without rumination scores in the analyses. Results remained the same, with PTQ-CF scores at T1 significantly predicting depression symptoms at T2, β = 0.43, p < 0.05; ΔR 2 = 0.10, p < 0.05; the same held for PTQ-Total scores, β = 0.31, p < 0.05; ΔR 2 = 0.07, p < 0.05.
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The writing of this paper was further supported by KU Leuven Center of Excellence on Generalization Research (GRIP*TT; PF/10/005).
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Raes, F. Repetitive Negative Thinking Predicts Depressed Mood at 3-Year Follow-up in Students. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 34, 497–501 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-012-9295-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-012-9295-4