Developmental Origins of Rumination in Middle Childhood: The Roles of Early Temperament and Positive Parenting.

Rumination, a thinking style characterized by a repetitive inward focus on negative cognitions, has been linked to internalizing disorders, particularly depression. Moreover, research suggests that rumination may be a cognitive vulnerability that predisposes individuals to psychopathology. Surprisingly little is known, however, about the etiology and development of rumination. The present study examined the role of specific components of child temperamental negative emotionality (sadness, fear, anger) and effortful control (inhibition), as well as parenting behaviors during early childhood on the development of rumination in middle childhood. Early childhood (age 3) temperament and parenting behaviors were assessed observationally and rumination was self-reported in middle childhood (age 9) in a large community sample (N = 425; 47.1% female). Two significant interactions emerged. First, temperamental anger interacted with inhibitory control (IC) such that high anger and low IC predicted higher levels of rumination, whereas low anger and low IC predicted lower levels of rumination. Second, IC interacted with parenting such that children with low IC and positive parenting had lower levels of rumination. In contrast, children with high IC reported similar levels of rumination regardless of parenting quality. Overall, these findings highlight the interplay of early IC with temperamental anger and positive parenting in the development of ruminative tendencies in middle childhood.

Understanding comorbidity among internalizing problems: Integrating latent structural models of psychopathology and risk mechanisms.

It is well known that comorbidity is the rule, not the exception, for categorically defined psychiatric disorders, and this is also the case for internalizing disorders of depression and anxiety. This theoretical review paper addresses the ubiquity of comorbidity among internalizing disorders. Our central thesis is that progress in understanding this co-occurrence can be made by employing latent dimensional structural models that organize psychopathology as well as vulnerabilities and risk mechanisms and by connecting the multiple levels of risk and psychopathology outcomes together. Different vulnerabilities and risk mechanisms are hypothesized to predict different levels of the structural model of psychopathology. We review the present state of knowledge based on concurrent and developmental sequential comorbidity patterns among common discrete psychiatric disorders in youth, and then we advocate for the use of more recent bifactor dimensional models of psychopathology (e.g., p factor; Caspi et al., 2014) that can help to explain the co-occurrence among internalizing symptoms. In support of this relatively novel conceptual perspective, we review six exemplar vulnerabilities and risk mechanisms, including executive function, information processing biases, cognitive vulnerabilities, positive and negative affectivity aspects of temperament, and autonomic dysregulation, along with the developmental occurrence of stressors in different domains, to show how these vulnerabilities can predict the general latent psychopathology factor, a unique latent internalizing dimension, as well as specific symptom syndrome manifestations.

The Interplay of Chronic Interpersonal Stress and Rumination on Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Youth.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) describes deliberate self-destructive behaviors without the intention to die. Little is known about what factors contribute to NSSI especially among youth. The current study tested two conceptual models for how chronic interpersonal stress and rumination may contribute to NSSI engagement across 18 months in a community sample of youth: (1) a mediation pathway based on the Emotional Cascade Model (i.e., stress contributes to rumination and then to subsequent NSSI), and (2) a moderation model based on the cognitive vulnerability-stress framework (i.e., rumination moderates the relation between stress and NSSI). 516 youth aged 7-16 (Mage = 12.0; 56% female; 90% Non-Hispanic or Non-Latinx) reported on ongoing interpersonal stress occurring between T1-T2 (every 6 months from T1 to 12 months) via the Youth Life Stress Interview, rumination via the Children's Response Styles Questionnaire (at T1 and 18 months later, T2), and NSSI engagement every six months from 18 to 36 months (T2-T3) via the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview. Interpersonal stress predicted later rumination (b = .43, p < .01), rumination forecasted later NSSI occurrence (OR = 1.06, p < .01), and mediation was supported via a significant indirect effect of interpersonal stress on NSSI through rumination (b = .03, 95% CI = .01, .07). Rumination did not significantly moderate the relation between stress and NSSI. The prospective relation between chronic interpersonal stress and NSSI engagement was partly explained by rumination, aligning with the Emotional Cascade Model's prediction that rumination contributes to NSSI. Youth may conduct NSSI to interrupt rumination elicited by chronic interpersonal stress.

Prospective Prediction of Depression and Anxiety by Integrating Negative Emotionality and Cognitive Vulnerabilities in Children and Adolescents.

Negative emotionality (NE) and multiple cognitive vulnerabilities (CVs) (negative inferential style, brooding, self-criticism, dependency, dysfunctional attitudes) independently predict internalizing outcomes. The present study examined whether NE and CVs could be structurally integrated into a common factor reflecting shared variance across risks, and specific factors reflecting unique variance in risks. We evaluated the validity and utility of this integrated model via prospective prediction of future depression and anxiety compared to alternative models (NE and CVs individually, a correlated factor model). Youth from a large community sample (N = 571; M = 13.58 years old; 55% girls, 44% boys) reported on NE and CVs. Depression and anxiety symptoms based on youth report, and disorder onset based on youth and caregiver diagnostic interviews were assessed over a 1½ years follow-up. Results supported a structural model including a general NE-CV dimension and specific dimensions for NE, common cognitive risk, negative inferential style, and brooding; model invariance was obtained from late childhood through late adolescence and for girls and boys. The integrated general NE-CV factor more consistently and strongly predicted future depressive (ß = 0.58) and anxiety (ß = 0.56) symptoms, and onsets of depression (OR = 1.81) and anxiety (OR = 2.23) relative to NE and CV risk dimensions across alternative models (ps < .01). The general NE-CV dimension represents an important means to efficiently represent transdiagnostic risk for internalizing outcomes among youth.

A Reformulated Architecture of Cognitive Risks for Psychopathology: Common and Specific Dimensions and Links to Internalizing Outcomes in Adolescence.

Multiple cognitive risk products (dysfunctional attitudes [DA], negative inferential style [NIS], self-criticism, dependency, rumination) predict internalizing disorders; however, an optimal structure to assess these risks is unknown. We evaluated the fit, construct validity, and utility of a bifactor, single, and correlated factor model in a community sample of 382 adolescents (age 11-15 years; 59% female). The bifactor, hierarchical single, and correlated factor models all fit well. The bifactor model included a common factor (c), capturing covariance across all cognitive risk measures, and specific latent factors for DA, NIS, dependency and rumination. Construct validity of these factor structures was evaluated with external validators, including depression and anxious arousal (AA) symptoms, positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), and onset of depression diagnostic onset over 2 years. C was associated with higher depression, NA, and AA; lower PA; and predicted depressive episodes. Hierarchical single and correlated factor models also related to external validators.

The breadth and potency of transdiagnostic cognitive risks for psychopathology in youth.

OBJECTIVE: Multiple cognitive risks from different theoretical paradigms (dysfunctional attitudes, negative inferential style, self-criticism, dependency, brooding) predict depression, but may be transdiagnostic vulnerabilities for multiple psychopathologies. Risk factors can be identified as broadly transdiagnostic and relatively specific to psychopathological outcomes by organizing the common and specific aspects of each respective construct using latent bifactor models, and by examining links between dimensions of risk and psychopathology. This study evaluated (a) whether a bifactor model of cognitive vulnerabilities, including a general cognitive risk dimension (c factor) and several specific dimensions replicated in early adolescents (Mage = 13.50 years) and extended to younger and older youth, and (b) how the general and specific cognitive risk dimensions related to the general psychopathology (p factor) and internalizing- and externalizing-specific dimensions. METHOD: Community youth (N = 571; 55% female) reported on cognitive risks; youth and a caregiver reported on psychopathologies (depression, anxiety, aggression, conduct, attention problems). RESULTS: The cognitive risk bifactor model showed good fit and slight advantages over a correlated factors model. The bifactor model exhibited invariance across development and captured key associations that were identified when each individual cognitive risk was related to the bifactor model of psychopathology. The c factor strongly related to internalizing-specific, and moderately to the p factor and externalizing-specific dimensions. Specific cognitive risk dimensions (brooding, negative inferential style, dependency) related to all psychopathology dimensions. CONCLUSION: A general cognitive vulnerability (c factor) transdiagnostically associates with a breadth of psychopathologies and most potently to internalizing-specific among youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).