Development of a Relational Rumination Questionnaire

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Rumination Romantic relationships Adult attachment Stalking Intimate partner violence Scale Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) Rumination about romantic relationships has been implicated in interpersonal problems generally, and intimate partner violence and stalking of former romantic partners specifically. While various scales exist to measure depressive, angry, or general rumination, no existing scale comprehensively assesses rumination on romantic relationships. This paper describes the development and validation of the Relational Rumination Questionnaire (RelRQ). The RelRQ was developed and tested across two studies involving university students and members of the general population. Study 1 (n = 578) used exploratory factor analyses to develop an 18-item RelRQ from a larger item pool. The derived three-factor structure: 1) romantic preoccupation rumination; 2) relationship uncertainty rumination; and 3) break-up rumination was confirmed in Study 2 (n = 525), and the scale was revised to a 16-item version. Total RelRQ and subscale scores showed high internal consistency, good test–retest reliability, and expected correlations with related constructs such as insecure attachment, anger rumination, and negative affect. Results indicate that the RelRQ can be used in future studies to test if relational rumination is associated with maladaptive relational outcomes such as intimate partner violence and stalking. Success in romantic relationships is thought to be a culturally prescribed life goal (DePaulo & Morris, 2006) and a salient developmental task in emerging adulthood (Roisman, Masten, Coatsworth, & Tellegen, 2004). Accordingly, unrequited love, conflict in romantic relationships, relational uncertainty, and relationship dissolution and reconciliation are major concerns for many people (e. Various authors have highlighted that ruminative thinking about such issues can influence adjustment when relationship goals are frustrated (e. Rumination is characterised as a form of negative self-focused attention that is observed across various types of psychopathology and problematic behaviour (Ehring et al., 2011; Ingram, 1990). Although the content of ruminative thinking may differ greatly, it tends to focus on issues that are self-relevant (Ingram, 1990) in internal domains (i.e., self, mood), external domains (i.e., events related to the self), or both (Kirkegaard Thomsen, 2006). For example, depressive rumination is internal and self-degrading (Ingram, 1990; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), whereas angry rumination typically focuses on external events of interpersonal transgressions and what these mean for the self recognised feature of ruminative thinking is its repetitive nature; it is also experienced as difficult to control, and difficult to disengage from …