A Daily Diary Evaluation of the Rumination Domains Questionnaire

The Rumination Domains Questionnaire (RDQ) assesses the content of ruminative thought across 10 life domains. Previous cross-sectional research has supported its reliability and criterion validity, but the RDQ has not been examined using longitudinal methods. In a seven-day daily diary study, 119 North American adults completed the RDQ, the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), the Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire (RRQ) at baseline, then reported daily time spent ruminating in each domain, amotivation, and negative mood. Each RDQ subscale correlated positively with average daily rumination in its corresponding domain and predicted it in multilevel models. Incremental validity over the RRS and RRQ varied by domain, but it was strongest for romantic, existential, and cleanliness domains; modest support for incremental validity in achievement, sociopolitical, and appearance domains; partial for social and financial domains and no clear evidence for health and family domains of rumination. The RDQ total score correlated with daily negative mood and amotivation and incrementally predicted both beyond the RRS and RRQ. Overall, the results support the validity of the RDQ, although the added value of domain-specific assessment varies across life domains.