Co–Rumination in the Friendships of Girls and Boys

TLDR

Co‑rumination is the extensive discussion of problems and negative feelings, a behavior that combines the friendship‑building benefits of self‑disclosure with the emotional risks of dwelling on negative topics. The study introduces co‑rumination as a new construct and examines its links to both friendship quality and emotional adjustment. The authors surveyed 608 middle‑school students with a novel co‑rumination questionnaire and compared its relations to self‑disclosure and rumination with friendship and emotional outcomes. Co‑rumination predicted stronger, higher‑quality friendships while also being associated with higher depression and anxiety, with girls showing greater co‑rumination that partly explained their better friendships and more internalizing symptoms.

Abstract

This research addresses a new construct, co-rumination. Co-rumination refers to extensively discussing and revisiting problems, speculating about problems, and focusing on negative feelings. Friendship research indicates that self-disclosure leads to close relationships; however, coping research indicates that dwelling on negative topics leads to emotional difficulties. Co-rumination is a single construct that integrates both perspectives and is proposed to be related both to positive friendship adjustment and problematic emotional adjustment. Third-, fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-grade participants (N = 608) responded to questionnaires, including a new measure of co-rumination. Co-rumination was related to high-quality, close friendships and aspects of depression and anxiety. Girls reported co-ruminating more than did boys, which helped to account for girls' more positive friendship adjustment and greater internalizing symptoms. Other analyses addressed whether co-rumination and the related constructs of self-disclosure and rumination had different relations with friendship and emotional adjustment.