Maladaptive Repetitive Thinking and Stress: The Potential Impact on Late Adolescents and Young Adults

To date, a growing body of literature studies maladaptive repetitive thinking; an unproductive emotion regulation strategy, where a person engages in certain negative thoughts, that are maintained on a conscious state for a prolonged time period. Maladaptive repetitive thinking consists of different components, like worry and rumination. Researchers argue whether the two are actually distinct cognitive processes. Limited bibliography examined the relationship between maladaptive repetitive thinking and stress, which is why this study addresses this topic. Specifically, it investigates whether higher worry and rumination levels predict higher academic and general stress levels of undergraduate students, during an exam and a non-exam week. In addition, it is hypothesized that students will report higher academic and general stress levels during the exam week compared to the non-exam week. Lastly, we anticipate worry to be highly associated with rumination. Forty students during the...Show moreTo date, a growing body of literature studies maladaptive repetitive thinking; an unproductive emotion regulation strategy, where a person engages in certain negative thoughts, that are maintained on a conscious state for a prolonged time period. Maladaptive repetitive thinking consists of different components, like worry and rumination. Researchers argue whether the two are actually distinct cognitive processes. Limited bibliography examined the relationship between maladaptive repetitive thinking and stress, which is why this study addresses this topic. Specifically, it investigates whether higher worry and rumination levels predict higher academic and general stress levels of undergraduate students, during an exam and a non-exam week. In addition, it is hypothesized that students will report higher academic and general stress levels during the exam week compared to the non-exam week. Lastly, we anticipate worry to be highly associated with rumination. Forty students during the non-exam week and twenty-eight during the exam week responded to the completion of self-report questionnaires, regarding worry, rumination, academic, and general stress. With the exception of general stress during the non-exam week, only increased rumination predicted increased levels of academic and general stress, during both weeks. Students reported higher general stress levels during the non-exam week compared to the exam week, whereas academic stress levels did not differ between the two weeks. As expected, worry highly correlated with rumination during both academic weeks, building on the literature in favor of this relationship. Our findings claim that, possibly, rumination is a stronger predictor of academic and general stress, compared to worry. Further exploration on how maladaptive repetitive thinking potentially affects the stress levels of students during different academic periods is needed. Limitations of the study are addressed and future directions are suggested.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

Maladaptive Repetitive Thinking and Stress: The Potential Impact on Late Adolescents and Young Adults