Depressive rumination and urgency have mutually enhancing relationships but both predict unique variance in future depression: A longitudinal study

Abstract

This study examined possible associations between rumination and impulsivity and if these variables make unique contributions to increasing depression. A three-wave longitudinal study was conducted with an interval of four weeks between waves. University students in five Japanese universities completed the Japanese version of the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition, Ruminative Responses Scale, and UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale on the three occasions (Time 1, n = 284, Mean age = 20.07 years, SD = 2.50, Age range 18–43 years; Time 2, n = 198; Time 3, n = 165). We conducted linear mixed model analyses to examine longitudinal relationships between variables with depression, rumination, and either UPPS-P subscale as fixed factors and the same variables assessed four weeks later as dependent variables. Results indicated that both negative and positive urgency predicted subsequent rumination, and rumination predicted subsequent negative but not positive urgency. Furthermore, rumination explained the unique variance in subsequent depression, even after controlling for the initial depression and negative or positive urgency score, and as did negative and positive urgency after controlling for initial depression and rumination. These findings suggest that rumination and urgency have a mutually enhancing relationship, although they make unique contributions to intensifying depression.

Keywords

• depression
• rumination
• impulsivity
• urgency
• upps-p