Rumination in problem drinkers

The present study explored the role of the general tendency to ruminate as a predictor of problem drinking (alcohol abuse) in clinical and community samples. A sample of 36 patients with a diagnosis of problem drinking and 37 social drinkers from the general population were compared on the following measures: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS) and Quantity Frequency Scale (QFS). Mann-Whitney U-tests, and logistic and hierarchical regression analyses were performed on the data. Mann-Whitney U-tests revealed that depression, rumination and alcohol use were significantly higher for problem drinkers than for social drinkers. The logistic regression analysis indicated that rumination was an independent predictor of classification as a problem drinker over and above depression. Finally, the hierarchical regression analysis on the combined samples showed that rumination independently predicted alcohol use. These results highlight the potential relevance of targeting the general tendency to ruminate in the treatment of problem-drinking behaviour.