Reduced specificity of autobiographical memory: A mediator between rumination and ineffective social problem-solving in major depression?

Background sed individuals display a deficit in effectively solving social problem situations (e.g., [Marx, E.M., Williams, J.M.G., Claridge, G.C., 1992. Depression and social problem solving. J. Abnorm. Psychology 101, 78–86]). Recent research suggests that rumination may interfere with such effective problem-solving (e.g., [Watkins, E., Baracaia, S., 2002. Rumination and social problem-solving in depression. Behav. Res. Ther. 40, 1179–1189]). However, little is known, as yet, about the mechanisms that are underlying this relation between rumination and poor problem-solving. The present study investigated the role of reduced specificity of autobiographicial memories as a mediator of this relationship. s ressed patients (15 women) completed the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT), the Means–Ends Problem-Solving Task (MEPS), the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS) and the Rumination on Sadness Scale (RSS). s tent with previous studies, rumination, ineffective problem-solving and reduced memory specificity were significantly associated. Regression analyses further extended these findings by showing that reduced memory specificity mediated the association between rumination and problem-solving effectiveness. tions rrelational nature of this study limits to some extent the conclusions that can be drawn on the directionality of the observed relationships. sions s offer support for the idea that lack of autobiographical memory specificity mediates the known relationship between rumination and poor problem-solving.