title: Children's responses to cognitive challenge and links to self-reported rumination.
abstract: We tested the hypothesis that less effective responses during a cognitive challenge would relate to higher levels of self-reported rumination in children. The sample was 100 children (55 boys, 45 girls), aged 7 to 14 years. A portion (n=65) was at high risk for depression due to having a parent with a childhood-onset mood disorder, and 35 were a low-risk comparison group. Using an impossible puzzle task, we assessed children's responses following failure across several domains: emotions (expressed anger, sadness, and negative self-statements), performance (being off-task, the time to solve subsequent puzzles, and the number solved), and physiology (heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia). Results indicated that making negative self-blaming statements during the solvable puzzles and taking more time to solve the puzzles were associated with higher levels of self-reported rumination. Our findings advance the understanding of potential correlates of children's tendency to ruminate and may have implications for children's performance on cognitive tasks.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506-6040, USA. amy.gentzler@mail.wvu.edu
authors.forename: Amy L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gentzler
authors.forename: Amanda L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Wheat
authors.forename: Cara A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Rebecca A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Burwell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012119:Respiration; D057566:Self Report