Gender and school type differences in rumination and depression among Chinese adolescents: A Cross-Lagged Panel...

Rumination and depression frequently co-occur in adolescence, yet their symptom-level temporal interplay, and potential gender and school type differences, remains unclear. This study examined these directional symptom-level relationships in Chinese adolescents.

A two-wave panel study was conducted among 2082 adolescents (M_age = 15.26 years, SD = 1.66; 53.9% girls) over a six-month interval. The sample comprised 785 junior high school students (37.7%), 868 general senior high school students (41.7%), and 429 vocational high school students (20.6%). Cross-Lagged Panel Network (CLPN) analysis was used to estimate directional symptom-level relationships between rumination and depressive symptoms, with separate networks constructed by gender and school type.

Subgroup-specific symptom-level patterns emerged. Across all subgroups, passive rumination was the most susceptible symptom (highest In-Expected Influence), with the exception of vocational high school students, where rumination on personality was most susceptible. Bridge centrality revealed gender-specific pathways: rumination symptoms (e.g., angry rumination) dominated bridge roles in boys, whereas depression symptoms (e.g., guilt) dominated in girls. Across school types, bridge symptom profiles differed markedly - sleep and guilt were prominent bridges in junior high school students, fatigue and self-injury in senior high school students, and sad mood in vocational high school students.

These findings highlight gender- and school-type- specific symptom pathways underlying rumination-depression comorbidity in adolescence. Boys exhibited rumination-dominant bridging patterns, whereas girls showed depression-dominant patterns, with distinct symptom-level dynamics observed across school types. These results provide developmentally sensitive targets for tailored interventions, highlighting early adolescence as a critical period for prevention.