Reciprocal Relations of Worry, Rumination, and Psychopathology Symptoms After Loss: A Prospective Cohort Study

Bereavement can precipitate symptoms of depression, prolonged grief disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Targeting repetitive negative thought (i.e., worry, rumination) in treatment may help reduce post-loss psychopathology. Yet, evidence on longitudinal associations of depressive rumination and worry with post-loss psychopathology symptoms has been mixed and the directions of effects are still unclear. Recently bereaved adults (78% female) completed questionnaires assessing depressive rumination (brooding), worry, and depression, prolonged grief and posttraumatic stress symptoms 11 times in 1.5 month intervals. We applied random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RICLPMs) to examine reciprocal within-person associations between worry and psychopathology symptoms, between rumination and these symptoms, and between worry and rumination. Main findings were that worry showed reciprocal relationships with psychopathology symptoms (although worry did not consistently predict prolonged grief symptoms). Depressive rumination was predicted by psychopathology symptoms, but not vice versa. Worry showed reciprocal relations with depressive rumination. Findings suggest that worry may be part of a downward spiral, enhancing psychopathology symptoms following loss, whereas depressive rumination is solely a consequence of such symptoms

Reciprocal Relations of Worry, Rumination, and Psychopathology Symptoms After Loss:A Prospective Cohort Study

Bereavement can precipitate symptoms of depression, prolonged grief disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Targeting repetitive negative thought (i.e., worry, rumination) in treatment may help reduce post-loss psychopathology. Yet, evidence on longitudinal associations of depressive rumination and worry with post-loss psychopathology symptoms has been mixed and the directions of effects are still unclear. Recently bereaved adults (78% female) completed questionnaires assessing depressive rumination (brooding), worry, and depression, prolonged grief and posttraumatic stress symptoms 11 times in 1.5 month intervals. We applied random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RICLPMs) to examine reciprocal within-person associations between worry and psychopathology symptoms, between rumination and these symptoms, and between worry and rumination. Main findings were that worry showed reciprocal relationships with psychopathology symptoms (although worry did not consistently predict prolonged grief symptoms). Depressive rumination was predicted by psychopathology symptoms, but not vice versa. Worry showed reciprocal relations with depressive rumination. Findings suggest that worry may be part of a downward spiral, enhancing psychopathology symptoms following loss, whereas depressive rumination is solely a consequence of such symptoms

Reciprocal Relations of Worry, Rumination, and Psychopathology Symptoms After Loss: A Prospective Cohort Study

Bereavement can precipitate symptoms of depression, prolonged grief disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Targeting repetitive negative thought (i.e., worry, rumination) in treatment may help reduce post-loss psychopathology. Yet, evidence on longitudinal associations of depressive rumination and worry with post-loss psychopathology symptoms has been mixed and the directions of effects are still unclear. Recently bereaved adults (78% female) completed questionnaires assessing depressive rumination (brooding), worry, and depression, prolonged grief and posttraumatic stress symptoms 11 times in 1.5 month intervals. We applied random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RICLPMs) to examine reciprocal within-person associations between worry and psychopathology symptoms, between rumination and these symptoms, and between worry and rumination. Main findings were that worry showed reciprocal relationships with psychopathology symptoms (although worry did not consistently predict prolonged grief symptoms). Depressive rumination was predicted by psychopathology symptoms, but not vice versa. Worry showed reciprocal relations with depressive rumination. Findings suggest that worry may be part of a downward spiral, enhancing psychopathology symptoms following loss, whereas depressive rumination is solely a consequence of such symptoms

Trajectories of insomnia following bereavement

BACKGROUND: Insomnia symptoms are common following bereavement and may exacerbate severe and protracted grief reactions, such as prolonged grief disorder (PGD). However, typical trajectories of insomnia symptoms and risk factors for having a more chronic insomnia trajectory following bereavement are yet unknown. METHOD: In the current investigation, 220 recently bereaved (≤6 months post-loss) participants, completed questionnaires assessing sociodemographic and loss-related characteristics, rumination, experiential avoidance and symptoms of (prolonged) grief and depression, on three time-points (6 months apart). We applied growth mixture models to investigate the typical trajectories of insomnia symptoms following bereavement. RESULTS: Three insomnia trajectory classes emerged, characterized by a resilient (47 %), recovering (43 %), and a chronic trajectory (10 %). Baseline depression symptoms best predicted the type of insomnia trajectory. At one-year follow-up, 9 %, 27 %, and 60 % of participants met the criteria for probable PGD within the resilient, recovering and chronic trajectory, respectively. A parallel process model showed that temporal changes in insomnia symptoms were strongly related to changes in prolonged grief symptoms. CONCLUSION: The results suggest, that targeting insomnia symptoms in the treatment of PGD, particularly with comorbid depression, may be a viable option

Birth expectations, birth experiences and childbirth‐related post‐traumatic stress symptoms in mothers and birth companions: Dyadic investigation using response surface analysis

Objectives During the perinatal period, women and their birth companions form expectations about childbirth. We aimed to examine whether a mismatch between birth expectations and experiences predict childbirth‐related post‐traumatic stress symptoms (CB‐PTSS) for mothers and birth companions. We also explored the influence of the mismatch between mothers' and birth companions' expectations/experiences on CB‐PTSS. Design Dyadic longitudinal data from the Self‐Hypnosis IntraPartum Trial. Methods Participants (n = 469 mothers; n = 358 birth companions) completed questionnaires at 27 and 36 weeks of gestation and 2 and 6 weeks post‐partum. We used the measures of birth expectations (36 weeks gestation), birth experiences (2 weeks post‐partum) and CB‐PTSS (6 weeks post‐partum). Results Correlations revealed that birth expectations were associated with experiences for both mothers and birth companions but were not consistently associated with CB‐PTSS. Birth experiences related to CB‐PTSS for both mothers and birth companions. The response surface analysis results showed no support for the effect of a mismatch between expectations and experiences on CB‐PTSS in mothers or birth companions. Similarly, a mismatch between mothers' and birth companions' expectations or experiences was unrelated to CB‐PTSS. Conclusions Following previous literature, birth expectations were associated with experiences, and experiences were associated with CB‐PTSS. By testing the effect of the match between birth experiences and expectations using an advanced statistical method, we found that experiences play a more substantial role than the match between experiences and expectations in CB‐PTSS. The impact of birth experiences on CB‐PTSS highlights the importance of respectful and supportive maternity care

Partner self-control and intrusive behaviors: A gender-specific examination of the mediating role of trust

This research investigated the interplay between self-control, trust, and intrusive behaviors in heterosexual relationships. While past work mainly focused on actor self-control, we additionally considered the role of partner self-control in both men’s and women’s tendency to show intrusive behaviors. Specifically, we hypothesized that a lack of self-control in the partner elicits intrusive behaviors through low levels of trust in the partner. We collected data from 104 couples and 52 individuals (N = 260, Mage = 35.11, SDage = 10.77) via a crowd-working platform. Analysis using an Actor Partner Interdependence Mediation Model with a bootstrapping method showed that trust mediated the association between partner self-control and intrusive behaviors. Additionally, actor self-control had a marginal indirect effect on intrusive behaviors through trust. The results were consistent across both genders. This research revealed that low levels of either actor or partner self-control are risk factors for privacy invasion in romantic relationships. Key words: intrusive behaviors, privacy, self-control, trust, romantic relationship