The parallel mediating effects of work rumination between organizational trust and work-family conflict among emergency department nurses

To investigate the parallel mediating roles of affective rumination and problem-solving pondering (components of work rumination) in the relationship between organizational trust and work-family conflict among emergency department (ED) nurses. Promoting the balance between work and family for ED nurses is a favorable guarantee for maintaining social order. Organizational trust, as a beneficial resource for alleviating work-family conflict, has a positive significance for achieving work-family balance. However, the mediating mechanisms of the two dimensions of work rumination—affective rumination and problem-solving pondering—in the relationship between organizational trust and work-family conflict remain unclear. A cross-sectional study design was adopted. From March to May 2025, a convenient sampling method was used to conduct a survey on 240 eligible emergency department nurses from 22 hospitals in Chongqing, who completed the General Information Questionnaire, Organizational Trust Scale, Work Rumination Scale and Work-Family Conflict Scale. Data analysis was performed via structural equation modeling. The scores of organizational trust, affective rumination, problem-solving pondering and work-family conflict among emergency department nurses were (43.86 ± 10.52), (14.18 ± 4.24), (16.81 ± 4.07) and (48.30 ± 13.75) respectively. Nurses who were male, aged 30–40 years, married, had two or more children, and worked more than 40 h per week had higher scores of work-family conflict. Affective rumination and problem-solving pondering exerted parallel mediating effects in the relationship between organizational trust and work-family conflict, with the effect values being − 0.088 and − 0.131 respectively. Affective rumination and problem-solving pondering play parallel mediating roles in the association between organizational trust and work-family conflict among emergency department nurses. It is recommended that targeted intervention strategies be formulated for these two types of rumination to alleviate work-family conflict among emergency department nurses.