Document Type

Honors Thesis

Major

Communications

Advisor(s)

Rebecca Schwartz-Mette

Committee Members

Robert Glover, Emily Haigh, Liliana Herakova, Kendra Rand

Graduation Year

May 2022

Publication Date

Spring 5-2022

Abstract

Depressive symptoms have far-reaching and negative implications on both an individual and societal level, with college students generally considered to be a particularly vulnerable population in terms of risk for depressive symptoms. Two internal cognitive processes, self-efficacy, and rumination, as well as the interpersonal form of rumination, co-rumination, have all been uniquely linked to depressive symptoms. The literature linking these four constructs is not nearly as extensive as it is with any of the constructs uniquely relating to depressive symptoms. Rumination is related to lower levels of self-efficacy, but the interaction of self-efficacy and co-rumination as well as the effects of rumination and co-rumination on the relationship between self-efficacy and depressive symptoms have yet to be explored to the same extent. The current study assessed students enrolled in undergraduate psychology classes at a medium-sized public university in New England (N=222) involving five self-report survey assessments. Results indicated that rumination predicted self-efficacy over and above co-rumination. Interestingly, co-rumination but not rumination moderated the association between self- efficacy and depressive symptoms. Clinical and educational implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

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