How negative thinking affects on the youth.

The current study sought to examine three forms of negative, repetitive thinking in nonclinical children and adolescents aged 10 to 18 years. More specifically, this study looked at the extent to which stress-reactive rumination can be distinguished from other forms of repetitive thinking. Such as emotion-focused rumination and worry, and associations between various indices of repetitive thinking and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Participants completed a battery of self-report questionnaires, including measures of stress-reactive rumination, emotion-focused rumination, worry, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Results indicated that stress-reactive rumination, emotion-focused rumination, and worry are related but distinct forms of repetitive negative thinking. Positive associations were found between all indices of repetitive thinking and symptoms of depression and anxiety, but the effects of emotion-focused rumination disappeared when controlling for other forms of repetitive thinking. Findings are discussed in light of current theories and previous research, and directions for future research are outlined. Keywords: Anxiety, depression, repetitive thinking, rumination, worry Introduction Non-constructive forms of repetitive thinking may represent a cognitive vulnerability factor involved in the development and maintenance of various emotional disorders such as anxiety disorders and depression (e.g. Watkins 2008). More specifically, repetitive thinking characterized by negatively appraised thought content (e.g., thoughts about depressed or anxious mood), negative intrapersonal context (e.g., negative mood or negative self-esteem), and abstract level of construct (i.e., thinking about meanings and consequences) is considered that it contributes to negative mood states. Different types of repetitive thinking with their own conceptualizations and qualities are distinguished in the literature. Emotion-focused rumination is thought to be a largely nonconstructive form of repetitive thinking (see Watkins 2008), which involves repetitive thoughts about depressive symptoms and the causes and consequences of those symptoms (e.g., Nolen-Hoeksema 1987). According to response style theory (e.g., Nolen-Hoeksema 1987, 1991, 1998), engaging in emotion-focused rumination is associated with heightened and prolonged periods of depression in adults (see comprehensive reviews by Lyubomirsky and Tkach 2004.Nolen-Hoeksema 1998). In youth, emotion-focused rumination is positively associated with current levels of depressive symptoms (e.g., Abela et al. 2004; Muris et al. 2004; Papadakis et al. 2006) and may predict increases in depressive symptoms over time (e.g., Abela et al. ., 2002, 2007; Burwell and Shirk 2007; Schwartz and Koenig 1996). Stress-reactive rumination is another form of repetitive thinking introduced by Alloy et al. (2000), Robinson and Alloy (2003), as an extension of response style theory. More specifically, stress-reactive rumination involves the tendency to ruminate on negative conclusions following stressful events (Robinson and Alloy 2003). The content of stress-reactive thoughts is consistent with hopelessness theory (Abramson et al. 1989), but is somewhat different from dysfunctional attitudes (Beck 1967), which may be focused on the belief that one's happiness depends on perfection or the approval of others (see .Robinson and Alloy 2003). That is, stress-reactive rumination involves the process of repeatedly thinking about negative conclusions in response to the occurrence of stressful events. Because emotion-focused rumination has been theoretically associated with the maintenance of depressive symptoms, stress-reactive rumination has been developed to explain the onset of depressive symptoms. Indeed, there is some evidence to suggest that stress-reactive rumination in combination with a negative cognitive style contributes to the onset of depression in adults, and that stress-reactive rumination may be an even more consistent predictor of the onset and duration of depressive symptoms. than emotion-focused rumination in adults (Alloy et al. 2000; Robinson and Alloy 2003). However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, there have been no systematic attempts to examine stress-reactive rumination in relation to symptoms of psychopathology in youth.