Relationship of Response-Set Differences on Beck Depression Inventory Scores of Undergraduate Students

The relationship of a ruminating and a distracting response style upon severity of depression and on gender were investigated. The Ways of Coping Questionnaire was modified to include ruminating and distracting scales and administered to 91 undergraduate students who also completed the Beck Depression Inventory. It was hypothesized that (a) regardless of gender, people who ruminate would have greater rated severity of depression than people who distract themselves; (b) women ruminators would show higher rated severity of depression than women distractors; and (c) female and male ruminators would show the same ratings on severity of depression. A set of t ratios was computed for mean differences between the groups. An analysis of variance for response style x gender was also done with the women and men classified as ruminators. The results conformed to the predictions for women but not for men.