An ecological momentary assessment study assessing repetitive negative thinking as a predictor for psychopathology
Repetitive negative thinking (RNT), an important transdiagnostic process, is commonly assessed using trait questionnaires. While these instruments ask respondents to estimate their general tendency towards RNT, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) allows to assess how much individuals actually engage in RNT in their daily lives. In a sample of N = 1,176 adolescents and young adults, we investigated whether average levels of RNT assessed via EMA predicted psychopathological symptoms. Adjusting for trait RNT measures and baseline scores on outcome measures, we found that average levels of RNT assessed via EMA significantly predicted higher depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as lower mental well-being at baseline, one-, three-, and twelve-month follow-up. Exploratory analyses of the association between temporal dynamics of RNT (e.g., RNT inertia) and psychopathological symptoms yielded inconsistent results. The high predictive power of average scores on the EMA-based RNT measure suggests that EMA is a promising tool for assessing RNT.
Authors
- Reinhard Pekrun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4489-3827)
- Alexandra Newbold (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2365-2290)
- Benjamin Aas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5628-5912)
- Thomas Ehring (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9502-6868)
- Christiane Hoessle
- Mads Frost (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7866-1103)
- Julia Funk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2496-5037)
- Felix Burkhardt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2689-0545)
- Tabea Rosenkranz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6071-9357)
- Azucena García‐Palacios (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9250-8714)
- Björn W. Schuller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6478-8699)
- Belinda Platt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7501-7494)
- Johnny R. J. Fontaine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5684-0178)
- Cristina Botella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8783-6959)
- Gerd Schulte‐Körne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9960-1572)
- Maria Voß
- C Müller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1639-8864)
- Edward R. Watkins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2432-5577)
- Klaus R. Scherer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9526-0144)
- Veerle E I Huyghe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5174-2771)
- Johanna Löchner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2886-9253)
- Varinka Voigt
Institutions
- Universitat Jaume I (ES)
- University of Essex (GB)
- University of Geneva (CH)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- LMU Klinikum (DE)
- Ghent University (BE)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
- Australian Catholic University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PLoS ONE
- Published
- 2025-03-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318453
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Mental Health Research Topics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.47
Funders
- European Commission