Talking about problems in online health communities: examining verbal rumination over time and in conjunction with co-rumination

Abstract

Drawing from theory about rumination, we examine the impact of verbal rumination over time and in conjunction with co-rumination in online health communities. Our analyses show that when users verbally ruminated in a message starting a thread (compared to when they did not), they were more likely to again verbally ruminate and to report a negative mood in the next thread they started. These relationships, however, varied over time as well as when other community members co-ruminated. When co-rumination from stronger ties or weaker ties in the community was present in responses (compared to when co-rumination was absent), users were less likely to continue engaging in verbal rumination. Users were also less likely to report a negative mood over time when co-rumination by stronger and weaker ties was present. This project advances our understanding of verbal rumination and co-rumination as communication phenomena in the context of online health communities.