The moderating effects of stress and rumination on depressive symptoms in women and men

Although there is an abundance of research linking stress and rumination to depression in women, little is known with respect to the role stress plays in the relationship between rumination and depression. Moreover, the role of stress in the rumination–depression relationship has not been previously investigated separately in women. In the present study, 301 undergraduate women and 109 undergraduate men were administered a questionnaire battery to assess their degrees of stress, depressive symptoms and ruminative tendencies. Individually, both stress and rumination scores were found to account for a large proportion of variance in depressive symptom scores. The interaction of stress and rumination also accounted for a significant proportion of this variance, suggesting a significant moderating effect of stress on the rumination–depressive symptom relationship in women and men. Furthermore, women and men with the highest degrees of stress demonstrated the strongest rumination–depressive symptom relationship. However, low‐stress women and low‐stress men demonstrated divergent patterns of relationships. The alternative model of rumination as a moderator of the stress–depression relationship likewise supported divergent relationships between low‐rumination women and low‐rumination men in the relationship between stress and depression. The implications of these findings regarding vulnerability to depressive symptoms are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.