The Reciprocal Effects of Trauma-Focused Rumination and Emotional Clarity in Daily Life: A Mechanistic Evaluation Using Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling

Rumination, or the tendency to passively and repetitively think about one’s distress, is a maladaptive form of emotion regulation that confers risk for psychological disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Current theories suggest that low emotional clarity may prompt rumination. Yet, the effects of rumination on emotional clarity are less clear, with some research indicating that rumination might foster short-term benefits by increasing emotional clarity, and other research suggesting that rumination may further hamper emotional clarity. The goal of this preregistered study was to test these theoretical, within-subject pathways by applying dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) to assess the reciprocal relationships between trauma-focused rumination and emotional clarity in daily life. Experience sampling data was collected from 238 trauma-exposed college students five times per day for 14 days (NSurveys = 7918). Bivariate DSEM revealed significant reciprocal effects between trauma-focused rumination and low emotional clarity with equivalent strength of these effects. Both trauma-focused rumination and low emotional clarity demonstrated significant autoregressive effects suggesting persistence of each process over time. PTSD symptom severity was associated with higher mean levels of each process and with higher inertia of trauma-focused rumination. Beyond these main findings, several other between-subject correlations emerged that provide preliminary insights into the dynamic relationships between trauma-focused rumination and emotional clarity. Findings suggest that trauma-focused rumination and low emotional clarity are reciprocally reinforced in the short-term to keep trauma survivors stuck in their distress. The broader theoretical implications for understanding the dynamic, functional interrelationship between understanding and regulating emotions are discussed.