Repetitive Negative Thinking outperforms loneliness and lack of social connectedness as a predictor of prospective depressive symptoms in adolescents

BACKGROUND: Repetitive Negative Thinking (RNT) is a well-established predictor in adolescents of emotional problems, such as depression. Surprisingly little research, however, has looked at the relative importance of RNT vs. more interpersonally relevant variables in the context of depression, such as loneliness and lack of social connectedness. OBJECTIVE: The present study, therefore, set out to examine whether RNT is a significant predictor when taking into account the contribution of loneliness and social connectedness. METHODS: A sample of 135 typically developing adolescents (N = 135; 79.3% girls; M(age) = 17.5; range 16-21) completed measures of depressive symptoms, RNT, loneliness and social connectedness at two time points with a 3-month interval. RESULTS: Results showed that above and beyond baseline depressive symptoms, RNT was the only other significant predictor of prospective depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: According to these results, RNT seems a relatively more important factor to consider in the context of adolescent depression than factors in the interpersonal or social context. Consequently, targeting RNT might be expected to yield more significant gains in reducing or preventing depressive symptoms in adolescents compared to focusing on feelings of loneliness or social connectedness – a hypothesis that remains to be tested.