Seminar Series

Co-rumination is a social emotion regulation strategy characterized by extensive and exhaustive discussions of stressors and negative emotions with another person. Typically, greater co-rumination is associated with more intrapersonal costs (e.g., negative affect) and interpersonal benefits (e.g., closeness), indicative of what is known as the “trade-off hypothesis.” While research establishing the costs and benefits associated with co-rumination has been formative, our understanding of co-rumination can be enhanced by embracing its dyadic and social nature. Through a social psychological lens, our team paves a way forward by offering a new theoretical conceptualization with which to view co-rumination that emphasizes the need to explicitly examine the dyadic and social nature of co-rumination and to reconsider what are “costs” and “benefits” of co-rumination based on the social context in which it is embedded. I will review how our research team got to these theoretical points by discussing findings from 7 studies and 1,511 individuals. After, I will outline our future directions using this theoretical reconceptualization of co-rumination. We hope this work may help us to better understand difficult and upsetting conversations with close others, ultimately improving recommendations for how individuals seek and provide support through challenging times.