Corumination

Corumination

Corumination is a relatively new construct, referring to extensively discussing and revisiting problems, speculating about problems, and focusing on negative feelings with peers This construct overlaps between self disclosure and rumination, but is not identical; Co-rumination is social where ruminating is not, and can be potentially maladaptive unlike self disclosure (in typical definitions)[1]. While self-disclosure is seen as a positive aspect found in close friendships, some types of self-disclosure can be maladaptive. Corumination is a type of behavior that is positively correlated with both rumination and self-disclosure and has been linked to a history of anxiety[2] because co-ruminating may exacerbate worries about whether problems will be resolved about about negative consequences of problems, and depressive diagnoses due to the consistent negative focus on troubling topics.[3]. However, Co-rumination is also closely associated with high-quality friendships and closeness.[4].

Contents

Developmental Psychology and Gender Differences

Girls are more likely than boys to coruminate with their close friends, and corumination increases with age in children. Female adolescents are more likely to co-ruminate ruminate than younger girls, because their social worlds become increasingly complex and stressful.[citation needed] This is not true for boys, however; Age differences are not expected among boys because their interactions remain activity focused and the tendency to extensively discuss problems is likely to remain inconsistent with male norms [5]. Unfortunately, while providing this support, this tendency may also reinforce internalizing problems such as anxiety or depression, especially in adolescent girls,[6] which may account for higher depression among girls than boys. For boys, lower levels of co-rumination may help buffer them against emotional problems if they spend less time with friends dwelling on problems and concerns, though less sharing of personal thoughts and feelings can potentially interfere with creating high-quality friendships[7]. Corumination is also linked with romantic activities, which have been shown to correlate with depressive symptoms over time, because they are often the problem discussed among adolescents.[8] Research suggests that within adolescents, children who currently exhibit high levels of co-rumination would be more likely to predict the onset of depressive diagnoses than children who exhibit low levels of co-rumination. In addition, this link maintained even when children with current diagnoses were excluded, as well as statistically controlling for current depressive symptoms. This further suggests that the relation between co-rumination and a history of depressive diagnoses is not due simply to current levels of depression [9].

Causes and Effects Corumination

Young women tend to turn to each other for social support, especially during the tumultuous years of adolescence.[citation needed] Corumination or talking excessively about each other's problems is common during these years. On a biological basis, a study has shown that there is an increase in the levels of stress hormones during co-rumination (Byrd-Craven, Geary, Rose, Ponzi, 2008). [10] This suggests that since stress hormones are released during corumination, they may also be released in greater amounts during other life stressors. [11]

Studies have also shown that corumination can predict internalizing symptoms such as depression and anxiety. [12] Since corumination involves repeatedly going over problems again and again this obviously can lead to depression and anxiety. Catastrophizing, when one takes small possibilities and blows them out of proportion into something negative, is common in depression and anxiety and may very well be a result of constantly going over problems that may not be as bad as they seem.

Effects in Daily Life

Corumination, or lack thereof, leads to different behaviors in daily life. For example, studies have examined the link between corumination and weekly drinking habits, specifically, negative thoughts. Worry corumination leads to less drinking weekly, while angry corumination leads to a significant increase in drinking. There have also been some gender differences found as well in the same study. In general, negative corumination increased the likelihood that women would binge drink weekly, versus men who would drink less weekly. When dealing with specific negative emotions, women drank less when taking part in worry corumination (as opposed to other negative emotions), while there appeared to be a lack of significant difference in men. (Ciesla et al., 2011)

Therapy

Corumination treatment typically consists of cognitive emotion regulation therapy for rumination within a patient. This therapy focuses both on the patient themselves and their habits of continually coruminating with a friend or friends. Therapies may need to be altered depending on the gender of each patient. As suggest by Zlomke and Hahn (2010)[13] men showed vast improvement in anxiety and worrying symptoms by focusing attention on how to handle a negative event "refocus on planning" whereas for women, accepting a negative event/emotion and reframing it in a positive light was associated with decreased levels of worry. In other words, some of the cognitive emotion regulation strategies that work for men do not necessarily work for women and vice versa. Patients are encouraged to talk about their problems with friends and family members but to focus on a solution instead of focusing on the exact problem.

Other research

Research on corumination in the workplace (Haggard et al., 2011) has shown that discussions about workplace problems have led to mixed results, especially regarding gender differences. In high abusive supervision settings, the effects of corumination were shown to intensify its negative effects for women, while associating lower negative effects for men. In low abusive supervision settings, results show that there were no significant effects for women, but had negative outcomes for men. The study suggests the reason men are at risk for job dissatisfaction and depression in low stress supervision, is due to the gender differences at an early age. At a young age, girls report to coruminate more than boys (Rose 2002; Rose et al. 2007), and as they age girls' scores tend to rise, while boys' scores tend to drop (Rose, 2002). Haggard et al,(2011) suggests that in adulthood, men have less experience with corumination than women, however some men may learn skills through interacting with women or the interaction style with other men in adulthood has changed from activity-based to conversation-based. This suggests that not only do men and women coruminate differently, but that the level of stress may be a factor as well.

References

[14][15][16][17]

  1. ^ Rose, A.J. (2002). Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. Child Development, 73, 6, 1830-43.
  2. ^ Lindsey B. Stone, Dorothy J. Uhrlass, and Brandon E. Gibb, Co-rumination and Lifetime History of Depressive Disorders in Children
  3. ^ Rose, A.J. (2002). Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. Child Development, 73, 6, 1830-43.
  4. ^ Rose, A.J. (2002). Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. Child Development, 73, 6, 1830-43.
  5. ^ Rose, A.J. (2002). Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. Child Development, 73, 6, 1830-43.
  6. ^ Siegler, Robert (2006). How Children Develop, Exploring Child Develop Student Media Tool Kit & Scientific American Reader to Accompany How Children Develop. New York: Worth Publishers. ISBN 0716761130.
  7. ^ Rose, A.J. (2002). Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. Child Development, 73, 6, 1830-43.
  8. ^ Starr LR, Davila J. Clarifying co-rumination: Associations with internalizing symptoms and romantic involvement among adolescent girls. Journal of Adolescence 2009;32:19–37. [PubMed: 18241914]
  9. ^ Stone,L.B., Hankin B. L., Gibbe, B.E., & Abela, J. R. Z. (2011). Co-rumination predicts the onset of depressive disorders during adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 32, 19-37.
  10. ^ Byrd-Craven J, Geary D, Rose A, Ponzi D. Co-ruminating increases stress hormone levels in women. Hormones And Behavior [serial online]. March 2008;53(3):489-492. Available from: PsycINFO, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 3, 2011.
  11. ^ Byrd-Craven J, Geary D, Rose A, Ponzi D. Co-ruminating increases stress hormone levels in women. Hormones And Behavior [serial online]. March 2008;53(3):489-492. Available from: PsycINFO, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 3, 2011.
  12. ^ Hankin, B. L., Stone, L., & Wright, P. (2010). Corumination, interpersonal stress generation, and internalizing symptoms: Accumulating effects and transactional influences in a multiwave study of adolescents. Development And Psychopathology, 22(1), 217-235. doi:10.1017/S0954579409990368
  13. ^ Kimberly R Zlomke, Kathryn S Hahn (2010).Cognitive emotion regulation strategies: Gender differences and associations to worry.Personality and Individual Differences.
  14. ^ Haggard, D. L., Robert, C., & Rose, A. J. (2011). Co-rumination in the workplace: Adjustment trade-offs for men and women who engage in excessive discussions of workplace problems. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(1), 27-40. doi:10.1007/s10869-010-9169-2
  15. ^ Rose, A. J. (2002). Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. Child Development, 73, 1830–1843
  16. ^ Rose, A. J., Carlson, W., & Waller, E. M. (2007). Prospective associations of co-rumination with friendship and emotional adjustment: Considering the socioemotional trade-offs of co-rumination. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1019–1031.
  17. ^ Kimberly R Zlomke, Kathryn S Hahn (2010).Cognitive emotion regulation strategies: Gender differences and associations to worry.Personality and Individual Differences.

See also

Stub icon This developmental psychology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.