Antecedents of COVID‐19 rumination: A three‐wave study

The COVID‐19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of our lives and has caused a considerable rise in psychological complaints such as anxieties and depression. The majority of studies so far has focused on outcomes of the COVID‐19 pandemic. To augment current knowledge, we focus on the antecedents of COVID‐19 rumination. Specially, we examine how negative and positive work events prior to the outbreak influence individuals' coping capacity with regard to COVID‐19 (i.e., the extent to which individuals have recurrent negative thoughts about COVID‐19). Drawing on Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), we maintain that positive and negative work events prior to the pandemic can affect one's self‐efficacy experiences and in turn can impact recurrent negative thoughts about COVID‐19. Alongside exploring the proposed theoretical mediation model, we test one of the key assumptions of the COR theory: the notion of primacy of negative over positive affect that results from negative (vs. positive) work events. Three‐waved data was collected among Dutch employees (T1 = 302; T2 = 199; T3 = 171); two prior to the pandemic and one at the onset of the outbreak. Results showed that positive work events increased self‐efficacy, which in turn reduced COVID‐19 rumination. Contrary to the expectation of primacy of the effects of negative work events, we found no significant impact of negative work events on individuals' COVID‐19 rumination.