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. 2008 Aug 1;32(4):507-525.
doi: 10.1007/s10608-006-9083-0.

Responses to Positive Affect: A Self-Report Measure of Rumination and Dampening

Greg C Feldman  1 , Jutta Joormann, Sheri L Johnson
Affiliations

Responses to Positive Affect: A Self-Report Measure of Rumination and Dampening

Greg C Feldman et al. Cognit Ther Res. .

Abstract

Rumination in response to dysphoric moods has been linked to the onset and maintenance of depressive symptoms; however, responses to positive moods have received less attention despite the theoretical roles of both positive and negative affect in mood disorders. The purpose of the present study was to develop a self-report measure of ruminative and dampening Responses to Positive Affect (RPA), which we called the RPA Questionnaire. In two psychometric studies, the three subscales of the RPA (Dampening, Self-focused positive rumination, and Emotion-focused positive rumination) demonstrated acceptable structural validity, internal consistency, and preliminary evidence of convergent and incremental validity with concurrent measures of self-esteem, depressive rumination, and depressive and manic symptoms among undergraduates. The present results suggest that future research on mood disorders would benefit from measuring responses to both negative and positive moods.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Results from a confirmatory factor analysis (LISREL) for the RPA Questionnaire
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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