Goal-directed rumination and its antagonistic effects on problem solving: a two-week diary study

The tendency to repetitively and intrusively think about a particular negative event, goal failure, or problem (i.e., goal-directed rumination) is generally associated with impairments in well-being, thus decreasing performance in solving this failure. However, rumination is also associated with higher levels of resources invested in problem solving, likely leading to an improvement in performance.

The current study thus examines the indirect effect of rumination via various mediators on subjective problem-solving performance in the everyday context.

Over a period of two weeks, 147 students completed a brief survey each evening (i.e., diary study).

Data were analyzed by means of a multiple mediation model in the multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) framework.

The analyses revealed that perceived stress and negative mood negatively mediated the relationship between rumination and problem solving, while attention and effort positively mediated this relationship. Finally, both a negative direct and total effect of rumination on problem solving was observed.

Conclusively, goal-directed rumination exerted a negative indirect effect on subjective problem solving via perceived stress and negative mood, whereas it positively affected problem solving via attention and effort. Possible limitations and implications are discussed.