A Daily Diary Study of Rumination and Health Behaviors: Modeling Moderators and Mediators

Rumination, thinking about a negative mood repetitively, is a common cognitive process that may affect health behavior engagement or avoidance. Little research has examined relations between rumination and health behaviors.

We aimed to test links between rumination and health behaviors as well as possible moderators and mediators of those links.

We used an 11-day online daily diary design. Health behavior outcomes included fruit intake, vegetable intake, exercise, alcohol intake, sexual risk taking behavior, and cigarette smoking.

Rumination was related to alcohol intake at the within-person level. Using multivariate modeling, we found that significant within-person mediators for rumination to health behaviors included impulsivity, amotivation, self control, and using health behaviors as coping, with each of these mediating relationships for one to four out of the five health behavior outcomes. A significant between-person moderator includes perceived behavioral control for alcohol intake only, and intention was not a significant moderator of the rumination to health behavior relationships.

Rumination affects various maladaptive health behaviors differentially, through a number of mechanisms and under a moderating condition whereby those who feel more control are better able to buffer rumination's deleterious effects. Future interventions can apply the results to individual and multiple behavior change interventions for chronic disease prevention, especially for those who are particularly suffering from ruminative thoughts.