Dorthe Kirkegaard Thomsen

The association between rumination and negative affect: A review

A total of 100 experimental, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on the association between rumination and negative affects are reviewed. Experimental and cross-sectional studies support a positive association between rumination and sadness-depression whereas longitudinal studies show more diverse results. Longitudinal studies sampling clinical populations and with treatment during the follow-up display more null results. Concerning the relation between rumination and other negative affects there is strongest evidence for a positive association between rumination and anxiety, but more studies are necessary to illuminate the relation between rumination and other negative affects. The functionality of rumination is discussed along with possible explanations for the associations between rumination and different negative affects. The need for further differentiation of rumination is highlighted in order to distinguish the concept from other types of repetitive, negative thoughts.A total of 100 experimental, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on the association between rumination and negative affects are reviewed. Experimental and cross-sectional studies support a positive association between rumination and sadness-depression whereas longitudinal studies show more diverse results. Longitudinal studies sampling clinical populations and with treatment during the follow-up display more null results. Concerning the relation between rumination and other negative affects there is strongest evidence for a positive association between rumination and anxiety, but more studies are necessary to illuminate the relation between rumination and other negative affects. The functionality of rumination is discussed along with possible explanations for the associations between rumination and different negative affects. The need for further differentiation of rumination is highlighted in order to distinguish the concept from other types of repetitive, negative thoughts.

Rumination-relationship with negative mood and sleep quality

Rumination is related to depression as well as to anxiety and anger. However, since these negative emotions are interrelated, it is not known whether rumination is independently related to each of these emotions. Previous studies have suggested an association between rumination and poor sleep quality or sleep disturbances, and between negative emotions and sleep disturbances. However, since rumination and negative emotions are linked, it is difficult to know if both negative emotions and rumination are associated with sleep quality. The purposes of this study were to investigate how rumination is related to different negative moods and whether rumination and negative mood may be independently associated with subjective sleep quality at a non-clinical level. Subjects were 126 students, who completed questionnaires measuring rumination, mood and sleep quality. The results showed that rumination was independently associated with angry and depressive mood. There were significant associations between rumination, negative mood and subjective sleep quality. Rumination was found to be significantly associated with subjective sleep quality even after controlling for negative mood.

Stressful life events are associated with a poor in-vitro fertilization (IVF) outcome: a prospective study

BACKGROUND There is preliminary evidence to suggest an impact of stress on chances of achieving a pregnancy with in-vitro fertilization (IVF). The majority of the available research has focused on stress related to infertility and going through IVF-treatment, and it is still unclear whether non-fertility-related, naturally occurring stressors may influence IVF pregnancy chances. Our aim was to explore the association between IVF-outcome and negative, i.e. stressful, life-events during the previous 12 months. METHODS Prior to IVF, 809 women (mean age: 31.2 years) completed the List of Recent Events (LRE) and questionnaires measuring perceived stress and depressive symptoms. RESULTS Women who became pregnant reported fewer non-fertility-related negative life-events prior to IVF (Mean: 2.5; SD: 2.5) than women who did not obtain a pregnancy (Mean: 3.0; SD: 3.0) (t(465.28) = 2.390, P = 0.017). Logistic regression analyses revealed that the number of negative life-events remained a significant predictor of pregnancy (OR: 0.889; P = 0.02), when controlling for age, total number of life-events, perceived stress within the previous month, depressive symptoms, and relevant medical factors related to the patient or treatment procedure, including duration of infertility, number of oocytes retrieved and infertility etiology. Mediation analyses indicated that the association between negative life events and IVF pregnancy was partly mediated by the number of oocytes harvested during oocyte retrieval. CONCLUSION A large number of life-events perceived as having a negative impact on quality of life may indicate chronic stress, and the results of our study indicate that stress may reduce the chances of a successful outcome following IVF, possibly through psychobiological mechanisms affecting medical end-points such as oocyte retrieval outcome.

The cultural life script and life story chapters contribute to the reminiscence bump

A total of 59 older Danes recorded five life story memories. They divided their life story into chapters and provided their age for the start and end of each chapter. Life story memories were coded for whether they were placed at the start or end of chapters and for their correspondence to the cultural life script. Chapters and life story memories showed a bump in terms of an increased recall of life story memories and chapters between ages 6 and 30. Chapter start and end memories, more frequently than other memories, referred to prominent cultural life script events. The bump was significantly stronger for memories that referred to both prominent cultural life script events and chapter starts or ends. The findings suggest that the cultural life script helps to identify beginning and ends of chapters in autobiographical memory, and that both the cultural life script and organisation in terms of chapters influence the recall of life story memories and may help to explain the bump.

Is there an association between rumination and self-reported physical health? A one-year follow-up in a young and an elderly sample.

Cross-sectional studies have suggested an association between rumination and subjective health. The aim of the present study was to investigate in a longitudinal design whether rumination was related to self-reported physical health. A total of 96 young (age range 20–35) and 110 elderly (age range 70–85) participants completed questionnaires measuring rumination, negative affect, life events, and self-reported physical health at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Multiple linear regressions showed a significant association between self-reported physical health at time 1 only for the elderly and negative affect mediated the association. At follow-up, rumination was significantly associated with self-reported physical health only for the young and the association was only partly mediated by negative affect. In conclusion, rumination is associated with poorer self-reported physical health, but the association depends on the age of the individual as well as time span studied.

There is more to life stories than memories

Current theories focus on the role of specific memories in organising the life story. However, temporally extended structures of autobiographical memory, like lifetime periods and mini-narratives (here termed chapters), may also play a central role in the organisation of the life story. Here, 30 elderly participants were asked to tell their life story in a free format. The life stories were divided into components and coded as chapters, specific memories, categoric memories, facts, chapters about other people, and autobiographical reasoning categories, i.e., reflections, evaluations, life lessons, and inferences about personality. The results show that chapters were much more common than specific memories in the life stories, indicating that chapters may play a role in the structuring of life stories. The number of chapters and specific memories in the life stories were unrelated, suggesting that the recounting of chapters versus specific memories does not reflect a preferred recall style.

Life story chapters, specific memories and the reminiscence bump.

Theories of autobiographical memory posit that extended time periods (here termed chapters) and memories are organised hierarchically. If chapters organise memories and guide their recall, then chapters and memories should show similar temporal distributions over the life course. Previous research demonstrates that positive but not negative memories show a reminiscence bump and that memories cluster at the beginning of extended time periods. The current study tested the hypotheses that (1) ages marking the beginning of positive but not negative chapters produce a bump, and that (2) specific memories are over-represented at the beginning of chapters. Potential connections between chapters and the cultural life script are also examined. Adult participants first divided their life story into chapters and identified their most positive and most negative chapter. They then recalled a specific memory from both their most positive and most negative chapter. As predicted, the beginning age of positive but not negative chapters produced a bump and specific memories tended to cluster at chapter beginnings. The results support the idea that chapters guide the search for specific memories and that the cultural life script contributes to the search process.

Breast cancer patients’ narratives about positive and negative communication experiences

Health staff-patient communication is increasingly considered an important issue in cancer research. However, questionnaires addressing satisfaction with communication limit the issues patients can raise, do not address the context of communication and often show a strong positive skew in responses. Thus, qualitative studies of communication are also needed. Fifteen breast cancer patients were interviewed 3 months after finishing adjuvant treatment. They were asked to tell a 10 minute narrative and recall five experiences from treatment. Themes were extracted using categories derived from previous research while at the same time being sensitive to new elaborations and categories. The participants reported both positive and negative communication-related experiences from a wide range of treatment situations. Two major themes emerged: Information giving as professional care-giving and meeting emotional needs. The analysis suggests that appropriate information giving may have several functions, such as re-establishing the patients future and reducing worst-case fantasies. Meeting emotional needs was seldom reported as directly talking about negative emotions, but rather through a variety of health staff behaviours. Also, the analysis points to problems in expecting or even pressurizing patients to feel and display negative emotions. The results highlight that meeting medical and emotional needs of patients may be closely intertwined in concrete treatment situations.

The emotional content of life stories: Positivity bias and relation to personality

We examined whether past and future negative life story events, compared to past and future positive events, were less likely to be related to life story chapters and situated at a greater temporal distance from the present. We also examined relations between life stories and personality traits. Three hundred ten students and 160 middle-aged adults completed a measure of personality traits and identified chapters as well as past and future events in their life story. All life story components were rated on emotion and age. Negative future events were less likely to be a continuation of chapters and were more temporally distant than positive future events. Extraversion and Conscientiousness were related to more positive life stories, and Neuroticism was related to more negative life stories. This suggests that the life story is positively biased by minimising the negative future, and that the construction of life stories is related to personality traits.

The end point effect in autobiographical memory: More than a calendar is needed

The end point effect, an increased frequency of memories from the start and end of a period, may be due to internalised calendar representations or narrative structures. Differential predictions derived from these theories were tested in 3 studies. In Study 1, 104 students recalled 5 memories from a relationship. In Study 2, 106 students recalled 5 memories from their first term and in Study 3, 89 students recalled 3 positive and 3 negative memories from their first term. In all three studies memories were rated on phenomenology, encoding variables and rehearsal. All three studies replicated the endpoint effect, with Study 3 showing a stronger effect for positive memories. The studies showed higher rating for end point memories on phenomenology (Study 1), encoding variables (Studies 1 and 2) and rehearsal (Study 1). Generally, the results support the narrative theory and this is discussed in relation to broader theories of autobiographical memory.