Assessing Content Domains of Repetitive Thought in the Anxiety Spectrum: Rumination and Worry in Nonclinical and Clinically Anxious Samples

It has been hypothesized that anxious rumination may focus on ruminative content themes pertaining to gaining control and coping with future uncertainty (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000), although it is unclear to what extent this content of repetitive thought is distinct from dimensions of depressive rumination, worry and anxiety sensitivity Two studies were conducted to test the role of rumination in the anxiety spectrum. Nonclinical (N = 491) and clinical participant-with DSM-IV anxiety disorders (N = 282) completed a newly constructed measurer of anxious rumination, as well as measures of depressive rumination, worry, anxiety sensitivity and other symptoms. Support was found for a two-factor model of anxious rumination in both nonclinical and clinical samples. Anxious rumination factors showed convergence with depressive rumination and worry, but provided unique predictive validity in relation to anxiety, depressive, and composite symptom constellations. There was partial support for mood-state ruminative specificity, with anxious rumination factors and worry relating to measures of anxiety symptom severity, and factors of depressive rumination uniquely predicting the presence of secondary mood disorders in patients with primary anxiety disorders. Dimensions of anxious rumination were found to be elevated in all of the anxiety disorders except specific phobia, and significantly greater in the clinical sample than the nonclinical sample. These results provide support for the importance of rumination in the intensification and prolongation of clinically anxious states.