School of Culture, Media and Society, Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
PLoS One. 2024 Jan 31;19(1):e0297691. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297691. eCollection 2024.
Rumination is suggested to exacerbate psychological health, but there is room for investigating the potential protecting factors for individuals with high ruminative tendencies against psychological symptoms. The present cross-sectional study aimed to uncover the associations between rumination as a maladaptive dimension of self-focus, self-compassion, and psychological health, and whether and how components of self-compassion may moderate the associations between rumination and psychological health in Japanese undergraduate students.
A questionnaire survey was conducted by using both an online platform and a paper-based questionnaire. The survey included established Japanese versions of psychological scales on rumination, self-compassion, perceived stress, trait anxiety, and depression.
The results revealed statistically significant positive correlations between rumination and negative dimensions of self-compassion, and rumination and psychological symptoms. Positive dimensions of self-compassion were significantly negatively correlated with both rumination and psychological symptoms. Reflection as a positive dimension of self-focus did not show significant correlations with most psychological variables. Furthermore, hierarchical multiple regression analyses involving subscales of self-compassion and their interactions with rumination as predictors revealed that the interactions between rumination and components of self-compassion, i.e., over-identification and mindfulness, significantly predicted trait anxiety. Higher rumination predicted higher anxiety when over-identification was high, but not when over-identification was low. Also, lower rumination predicted lower anxiety when mindfulness was high, but not when mindfulness was low.
The results suggest significant associations between rumination, components of self-compassion, and psychological health in a population of Japanese undergraduate students. The data also suggest that components of self-compassion play moderating roles in the relationship between rumination and psychological health, potentially serving as aggravating/protective factors for psychological health. Longitudinal studies and comparisons between different cultures should be conducted in the future quest.
反刍被认为会加剧心理健康问题，但仍有必要探讨高反刍倾向个体的潜在保护因素，以预防其出现心理症状。本横断面研究旨在揭示反刍作为自我关注的适应不良维度与自我同情之间的关系，以及自我同情的组成部分是否以及如何调节反刍与日本大学生心理健康之间的关系。
通过在线平台和纸质问卷进行问卷调查。调查包括经过验证的日语版反刍、自我同情、感知压力、特质焦虑和抑郁心理量表。
结果显示，反刍与自我同情的消极维度以及反刍与心理症状之间存在显著正相关。自我同情的积极维度与反刍和心理症状均呈显著负相关。作为自我关注的积极维度的反思与大多数心理变量均无显著相关性。此外，将自我同情的亚量表及其与反刍的交互作用作为预测因子进行分层多元回归分析，结果表明，反刍与自我同情组成部分（即过度认同和正念）之间的交互作用显著预测特质焦虑。当过度认同较高时，较高的反刍会预测更高的焦虑，而当过度认同较低时，反刍则不会预测更高的焦虑。当正念较高时，较低的反刍会预测较低的焦虑，而当正念较低时，反刍则不会预测较低的焦虑。
研究结果表明，反刍、自我同情的组成部分与日本大学生的心理健康之间存在显著关联。研究数据还表明，自我同情的组成部分在反刍与心理健康之间的关系中起调节作用，可能作为心理健康的加重/保护因素。未来的研究应开展纵向研究并进行不同文化之间的比较。
