The Association of Gender, Rumination, and Depression on the WAIS-IV Working Memory Index

Due to the prevalence of depression in college students and associated functional and cognitive impairment, a developing body of research is exploring factors that may negatively impact cognitive efficiency. Recent research has highlighted rumination as one variable that may reduce cognitive efficiency and exacerbate depression. This study examined the impact of rumination and gender on working memory in depressed (n = 29) and non-depressed undergraduates, (n =68) by examining performance on the Working Memory Index (WMI) of the WAIS-IV. Prior to WMI subtests, participants were randomly assigned to a rumination or distraction condition. After controlling for pre-experimental rumination, test anxiety, mathematics anxiety, and general intelligence, results indicated that depressed males exposed to rumination achieved lower WMI and arithmetic subtest scores than non-depressed males exposed to rumination. The performance of females was comparatively unaffected by rumination, whether depressed or non-depressed. When examined as a continuous variable, there also was evidence that depression negatively affected WMI and arithmetic subtest performance. Findings support research highlighting the negative impact of rumination on cognitive-behavioral experimental tasks but reveal important gender differences previously unidentified. Results are discussed in the context of gender differences in rumination whereby a decreased reliance on rumination as a coping mechanism among males may increase performance deficits when confronted with this cognitive experience.