Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Verbal Rumination In Close Relationships, Donna Henson

Donna Henson

This article introduces the concept of verbal rumination. The current study investigated the possibility that ruminative thought translates to an interpersonal verbal behavior characterized by repetitive communication that is potentially aversive to both an individual and his or her partner. An initial measure of verbal rumination (VR) was developed and the adequacy of the resultant scale was evaluated. Analyses revealed four distinct types of verbal rumination behavior. These were labeled as positivity, redundant rehashing, prospective pessimism, and fretting. In brief, positivity refers to communication about happy, positive events that have happened in the past or are anticipated to occur in …