Examining self-critical rumination in the context of negative core beliefs and emotions

The present study aimed to examine self-critical rumination, new type of rumination identified in the literature, in the context of negative emotions (guilt, shame, regret) and negative core beliefs, with a two-stage study. The first study consisted of 1027 participants, and the correlational and predictive relationships between the study variables were examined. Pearson Correlation Analysis, Multiple Linear Regression Analysis, and Mediation models indicated that both shame and regret positively predicted self-critical rumination, with regret being the emotion with the strongest predictive power. Moreover, the results revealed that negative core belief of helplessness/vulnerability had the highest mediating power regarding the relationship between self-critical rumination and regret. A total of 158 participants were selected from the participants of the first study to participate in the second study, among the participants of the first study. In this study, the participants' helplessness/vulnerability negative core belief scores were divided into two categories as below (low) and above (high) the median. The participants were then randomly assigned to groups, ensuring each group had equal number of participants with low and high vulnerability core beliefs. The second study consisted of three different groups (negative emotion-regret manipulation, positive emotion manipulation, and control group). Mixed Design Repeated Measures ANOVA determined that the negative emotion manipulation group with high vulnerability negative core belief had a higher increase in self-critical rumination than all other groups. These findings indicated that cognitive interventions regarding self-critical rumination based on automatic thoughts may not be sufficient and that especially vulnerability negative core belief should be included in the intervention.