Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Co-brooding, Co-reflection, Co-rumination, Depressive symptoms, Friendship quality, Adolescence, RESPONSE STYLES THEORY, SEX-DIFFERENCES, TRADE-OFFS, INTERNALIZING SYMPTOMS, STRESS GENERATION, RUMINATION, DISORDERS, ASSOCIATIONS, ADJUSTMENT, CHILDREN, Adolescent, Child, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Female, Friends, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Optimism, Pessimism, Prospective Studies, Self Report, Sex Factors, Thinking, 1303 Specialist Studies in Education, 1701 Psychology, Developmental & Child Psychology, 5201 Applied and developmental psychology, 5203 Clinical and health psychology, 5205 Social and personality psychology

Abstract:

Co-rumination has been shown advantageous for friendship quality, but disadvantageous for mental health. Recently, two components have been distinguished, with co-brooding predicting increases in depressive symptoms and co-reflection decreases. The current study aimed to replicate these findings and investigated whether both components also show differential relations with friendship quality. Gender was investigated as a moderator. Path analyses were used on data of 313 adolescents aged 9-17 (50.5% girls). Co-brooding was related to more concurrent and prospective depressive symptoms in girls. Co-reflection predicted less concurrent and prospective depressive symptoms in girls and higher concurrent positive friendship quality for boys and girls. This study underscores the value of studying co-rumination components and suggests that boys and girls in this context differ in their pathways towards depression.