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. 2023 Nov;45(6):614-621.
doi: 10.1177/02537176231171949. Epub 2023 Jun 11.

Rumination Moderates the Association between Neuroticism, Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Indian Women

Parwinder Singh  1 , Navneet Mishra  1
Affiliations

Rumination Moderates the Association between Neuroticism, Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Indian Women

Parwinder Singh et al. Indian J Psychol Med. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Background: The higher prevalence of depressive symptoms among women demands an in-depth exploration of every possible mechanism through which depressive symptoms may prevail. Identifying any malleable mechanism may open a new pathway through which such symptoms could be targeted. We explored the association between neuroticism, rumination, anxiety, and depressive symptoms and tested a moderated mediation model with anxiety as a mediator in the relationship between neuroticism and depressive symptoms, and rumination as a moderator of the effect of neuroticism on anxiety.

Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on Indian women living in the state of Punjab. A total of 671 adult females responded to the translated versions of standardized questionnaires measuring the relevant constructs.

Results: The mean (SD) age of the sample was 23.71 (6.09) years. As hypothesized, anxiety significantly mediated the relationship between neuroticism and depression, and the use of rumination moderated the effect of neuroticism on anxiety. Among women with a high score on neuroticism, those with low ruminating tendencies showed less anxiety and depression than others who scored high on rumination.

Conclusion: The findings imply that a reduction in rumination may help women, especially those who are high on neuroticism, manage their vulnerabilities toward anxiety and depressive symptoms. Personality traits being not that malleable, targeting a reduction of rumination usage, which is both a trans-diagnostic factor and a malleable one, can help address the surging prevalence of common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression through appropriately devised interventions.

Keywords: Neuroticism; anxiety; depression; moderated mediation model; rumination; women.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Conceptual Framework Pertaining to the First Hypothesis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Conceptual Framework Pertaining to the Second Hypothesis.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Neuroticism Predicting Depression with Anxiety as a Mediator.
*Path a = standardized regression coefficient for the predictor in relation to the mediator; path b = standardized regression coefficient for the mediator predicting the criterion variable; path c = standardized regression coefficient for the predictor in relation to criterion variables with the mediator in the model; indirect effect is in parentheses.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.. Neuroticism Predicting Anxiety with Rumination as a Moderator of the Relationship between Neuroticism and Anxiety.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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