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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Perinatal Psychiatry
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1499061
This article is part of the Research Topic Perinatal mental health: Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Fear View all 4 articles

The mediating role of rumination in the relationship between negative cognitive styles and depression among pregnant women in Guangzhou, China

Provisionally accepted
Min Liang Min Liang 1Yu Chen Yu Chen 2Yan Liu Yan Liu 1Ribo Xiong Ribo Xiong 3*
  • 1 Third Affiliated Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
  • 2 School of Nursing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
  • 3 The Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Foshan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Backgrounds: Negative cognitive styles (NCSs) have been identified as risk factor for the onset of depression. However, little empirical evidence is available to support its role in psychological disorders in the perinatal period. Moreover, less is known about the underlying mechanism in the relation between NCSs and depression in pregnant women. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediation effect of rumination on the relationship between NCSs and antenatal depression (AD). Specifically, the mediation effects of two subtypes of rumination were tested. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2023 using anonymous online questionnaire among women in their third trimester of pregnancy in the antenatal care clinic of a tertiary hospital. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was used to screen antenatal depression. Attributional Style Questionnaire and Ruminative Responses Scale were employed to assess NCSs and rumination respectively. Correlational analysis of the associations between NCSs, rumination, and AD was conducted. Bootstrap mediation analysis and multiple mediation models were applied to investigate whether rumination, and its brooding and reflection components would mediate the relationship between NCSs and AD. Results: NCSs had a significant positive effect on depression in pregnant women (c=1.45, SE=0.03, p ＜ 0.001, 95%CI: 0.92 ～ 1.70). Rumination mediated the relationship between NCSs and depression in pregnant women (point estimate=0.41, 95%CI: 0.13 ～ 0.79, effect size=0.22, K 2 =0.19). Multiple mediation analysis revealed that brooding, instead of reflection, mediated the relationship between NCSs and depression in pregnant women (point estimate=0.41, 95%CI: 0.15～0.78). Conclusion: This study provided novel evidence for the role of rumination, specifically its brooding subtype, in shaping the link between NCSs and depression in pregnant women, highlighting potentially useful targets for interventions aimed at preventing the onset of AD.

    Keywords: rumination, Negative cognitive styles, Depression, pregnant, Mediation

    Received: 20 Sep 2024; Accepted: 18 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Liang, Chen, Liu and Xiong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ribo Xiong, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Foshan, China

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