Cognitive control moderates the association between stress and rumination.

BACKGROUND AND

OBJECTIVES

A prospective design was used to examine whether inter-individual differences in cognitive control ability, for non-emotional and emotional material, play a moderating role in the association between the occurrence of a stressful event and the tendency to ruminate.

METHODS

At baseline, the Internal Switch Task (IST) was administered in an undergraduate sample to measure the ability to switch attention between items held in working memory. Six weeks after baseline, self-report questionnaires were administered at 4 fixed moments during their first examination period at university, measuring stressors, rumination and depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

Results revealed that impaired cognitive control, reflected in larger switch costs, moderated the association between stress and increased rumination. Interestingly, a larger switch cost when processing emotional material was specifically associated with increased depressive brooding in response to stress. No effects with reflective pondering were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Implications for understanding the underlying mechanisms of rumination are discussed.