Respiratory sinus arrhythmia moderates the interpersonal consequences of brooding rumination

Abstract

Brooding rumination is an intrapersonal emotion regulation strategy associated with negative interpersonal consequences. Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a psychophysiological marker of self-regulatory capacity, may buffer the association between maladaptive emotion regulation and negative interpersonal behaviors. The current work examines the moderating effect of RSA on the association between brooding rumination and different negative interpersonal consequences. Across three convenience samples, individuals with lower RSA showed a stronger association between brooding rumination and more negative interpersonal behaviors as well as less perception of received instrumental social support (Study 1; n = 154), higher levels of interviewer-rated interpersonal stress (Study 2; n = 42) and a stronger indirect association between brooding rumination and depressive symptoms via daily interpersonal stress (Study 3; n = 222). These findings highlight the negative interpersonal consequences of brooding rumination, particularly among individuals with lower RSA.

Keywords: Brooding rumination; heart rate variability; interpersonal stress; negative interpersonal behaviors; respiratory sinus arrhythmia; social support.

Figure 1.

The Johnson-Neyman Procedure (1936) was used to estimate the point along the centered moderator (RSA) that the simple slope of the association between rumination and z-score transformed negative interpersonal behavior is significant (grey).

Figure 2.

Interaction of brooding rumination, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and person-mean centered state rumination on daily instrumental support (Study 1). Low and high represent +/− 1 SD of the mean.

Figure 3.

The Johnson-Neyman Procedure (1936) was used to estimate the point along the centered moderator (RSA) that the simple slope of the association between rumination and chronic interpersonal stress is significant (grey).

Figure 4.

Measurement model with standardized uniquenesses, disturbances, factor loadings, factor variance and higher order factor correlations. Note. Circles represent latent variables, rectangles represent latent indicators, double headed arrows represent correlations, single headed arrows represent factor loadings and small circles marked by an e and linked with an arrow represent items uniquenesses. All factor loadings significant at p ≤ .01. All correlations depicted in the model were significant at p ≤ .01. Non-significant correlations are not depicted.