Rumination—relationship with negative mood and sleep quality

Rumination is related to depression as well as to anxiety and anger. However, since these negative emotions are interrelated, it is not known whether rumination is independently related to each of these emotions. Previous studies have suggested an association between rumination and poor sleep quality or sleep disturbances, and between negative emotions and sleep disturbances. However, since rumination and negative emotions are linked, it is difficult to know if both negative emotions and rumination are associated with sleep quality. The purposes of this study were to investigate how rumination is related to different negative moods and whether rumination and negative mood may be independently associated with subjective sleep quality at a non-clinical level. Subjects were 126 students, who completed questionnaires measuring rumination, mood and sleep quality. The results showed that rumination was independently associated with angry and depressive mood. There were significant associations between rumination, negative mood and subjective sleep quality. Rumination was found to be significantly associated with subjective sleep quality even after controlling for negative mood.