The brooding and reflection forms of rumination were examined as mediators of the concurrent relationship between the impact of negative life events (INE), symptoms of depression, and suicidal ideation. An ethnically diverse sample of college undergraduates (N = 1,011) completed measures of negative life events and rumination, and they reported on their symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation. Brooding, but not reflection, partially mediated the INE-ideation relationship. Depression symptoms partially mediated the relationship between INE and suicidal ideation and between brooding and ideation. People who brood in response to negative life events may be vulnerable to thinking about suicide, partly due to symptoms of depression, but also as a result of brooding itself.