The Role of Rumination in the Relationship between Social Exclusion and Depression among College Freshmen

Key Points

• The aim is to explore the relationship among rumination, social exclusion, and depression in college freshmen.
• Surveys administered to 812 college freshmen in Shenzhen to assess social exclusion, rumination, and depression.
• Utilized social exclusion questionnaire, rumination scale, and depression scale.
• Correlational analysis to examine relationships between variables.
• Mediation and moderation analyses to evaluate the role of rumination.
• Significant positive correlations found between social exclusion and depression (r=0.49), and between rumination and depression (r=0.50), with p<0.01 for all.
• Social exclusion positively correlates with rumination (r=0.42, p<0.01).
• Rumination mediates the effect of social exclusion on depression, with a mediating effect value of β=0.15.
• High levels of rumination amplify the negative impact of social exclusion on depression levels.

Abstract