Rumination as a Mechanism of the Longitudinal Association Between COVID-19-Related Stress and Internalizing Symptoms in Adolescents

Abstract

The current prospective longitudinal study evaluated brooding rumination as an intervening mechanism of the association between COVID-19-related stress and internalizing symptoms during the first year of the pandemic. Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) status and adolescent sex were tested as moderators of the indirect effect. Adolescents with and without ADHD (N = 238; M age = 16.74) completed rating scales of COVID-19 stress and both adolescents and parents completed ratings scales of internalizing symptoms in May/June 2020 (T1). In October/November 2020 (T2), adolescents reported on their brooding rumination. Adolescents and parents reported on internalizing symptoms again in March/April 2021 (T3). Covariates included participant characteristics and baseline symptoms. T1 self-reported COVID-19-related stress was associated with increased T3 self-reported anxiety (ab = 0.10), self-reported depression (ab = 0.07), and parent-reported depression (ab = 0.09) via T2 brooding rumination. The indirect effect did not differ for adolescents with and without ADHD or for female and male adolescents. Brooding rumination may be one mechanism to target to promote the mental health adjustment of adolescents during periods of high stress of the COVID-19 pandemic and future stressors.

Anxiety in Early Adolescents During the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Children and adolescents who think they are to blame for something, who are preoccupied with what they think and feel about what they have experienced, and who catastrophize by continually thinking about how horrible the situation was, have more anxiety symptoms. As a result of the ongoing pandemic, children and adolescents may become more alert to threats, feel helpless, and spend more time isolated from peers, all of which lead to opportunities for rumination as a less adaptive strategy (Fredrick et al, 2022).…”

How rumination influences meaning in life among Chinese high school students: the mediating effects of perceived chronic social adversity and coping style

“…According to the response styles theory, rumination tends to lead individuals to interpret their environment negatively (25) and perceive life events as stressful (40), which in turn increases their perception of adverse events (39); in this regard, the interaction between rumination and stressful life events negatively affects mental health (41,42). Therefore, rumination (as a cognitive vulnerability factor) exerts a detrimental influence on the mental health of high school students because of its interaction with stressful life events (30). On the other hand, a higher level of perceived chronic social adversity has been found to decrease an individual's sense of control (39), impair their interpersonal skills (43), and lead to social anxiety (44) and non-adaptive behaviors, including aggression (29).…”