Rose Amanda J, Smith Rhiannon L, Schwartz-Mette Rebecca A, Glick Gary C
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri.
Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut.
Dev Psychol. 2022 Dec;58(12):2350-2357. doi: 10.1037/dev0001445. Epub 2022 Sep 1.
Friendships are important sources of support during adolescence. However, a growing literature indicates some adolescents co-ruminate, or talk with friends about problems in a way that is excessive, speculative, and negatively focused, which confers risk for internalizing problems. Still, previous research had not examined the types of problems co-ruminators discuss. Using self-reported co-rumination and observations of friends' conversations about problems, the present study of early and middle adolescents addressed this gap. Participants ( = 628) were approximately half female (52% of the sample) and primarily European American and African American (63% and 29% of the sample, respectively). Adolescents who reported greater co-rumination spent more time discussing interpersonal problems with friends, including problems with families, peers, and romantic interests. Interpersonal problems may lend themselves to co-rumination because they can be ambiguous, multifaceted, and difficult to resolve. In contrast, co-rumination was not related spending more time discussing noninterpersonal problems. In addition, middle adolescents were observed to spend more time than early adolescents discussing problems related to developmentally salient tasks (e.g., romantic relationships, academics), and girls spent more time than boys discussing interpersonal problems. Taken together, the findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of co-rumination. Moreover, the study has applied implications in that findings suggest that adolescents experiencing interpersonal problems may be at elevated risk of co-ruminating. In addition to steering these adolescents away from co-rumination, fostering better problem-solving skills for interpersonal problems may lead to the resolution of these problems before they become topics of co-rumination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
友谊是青少年时期重要的支持来源。然而，越来越多的文献表明，一些青少年会共同反复思考，或以一种过度、推测性且负面聚焦的方式与朋友谈论问题，这会带来内化问题的风险。尽管如此，先前的研究并未考察共同反复思考者所讨论问题的类型。本研究通过自我报告的共同反复思考以及对朋友间问题讨论的观察，填补了这一空白，研究对象为青少年早期和中期的学生。参与者（n = 628）中约一半为女性（占样本的52%），主要是欧美裔和非裔美国人（分别占样本的63%和29%）。报告共同反复思考程度较高的青少年与朋友讨论人际问题的时间更多，包括与家人、同龄人及恋爱对象之间的问题。人际问题可能更容易引发共同反复思考，因为它们可能模糊不清、多面且难以解决。相比之下，共同反复思考与讨论非人际问题的时间增加无关。此外，观察发现，青少年中期比青少年早期花更多时间讨论与发展中突出任务相关的问题（如恋爱关系、学业），女孩比男孩花更多时间讨论人际问题。综合来看，这些发现有助于更全面地理解共同反复思考。此外，该研究具有实际应用意义，研究结果表明，经历人际问题的青少年共同反复思考的风险可能更高。除了引导这些青少年避免共同反复思考外，培养更好的人际问题解决技巧可能会在这些问题成为共同反复思考的话题之前将其解决。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2022美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
