Study findings have suggested that rumination may be a risk factor for depression in adolescents, possibly mediating, at least in part, the relationship between neuroticism and the psychiatric disorder.
“Adolescence is a challenging developmental period when formal operational thought, depression onset, and gender differences in prevalence rates all emerge,” note Willem Kuyken (University of Exeter, UK) and colleagues.
“Our findings suggest that young people who are more emotionally labile and tend to ruminate are more vulnerable to experiencing depressive symptoms.”