Depression is associated with deficits in executive functions (EFs)-cognitive control abilities that regulate goal-directed thoughts and actions-but the etiology of these associations is unclear. We examined the relations between depressive symptoms and multiple EF latent variables in a population-based sample of 439 twin pairs assessed at mean ages 12, 17, and 23 years. Greater depressive symptoms negatively related to a Common EF factor capturing shared variance across response inhibition, working memory updating, and mental set shifting tasks, and also negatively related to an Updating-Specific factor, but not a Shifting-Specific factor. Cross-lagged panel models suggested that the Common EF correlations reflected within-wave associations rather than prospective effects, whereas the Updating-Specific correlations reflected associations of earlier depression levels with later Updating-Specific ability. Twin models were consistent with a model in which Common EF and Updating-Specific abilities relate to depression through correlated genetic risk, with no significant environmental correlations.

Recent theoretical advances have emphasized the commonality between rumination and worry, often referred to as repetitive negative thinking. Although not studied extensively, repetitive negative thinking may not only account for a substantial overlap between depression and anxiety symptoms but also encapsulate other constructs including one's tendency to experience unwanted intrusive thoughts or have low levels of mindfulness. In this study, 643 college students completed self-report questionnaire measures of repetitive negative thinking (the Habit Index of Negative Thinking) and other relevant constructs including rumination, worry, depression and anxiety symptoms, intrusive thoughts, and mindfulness. To analyze the data, we conducted systematic commonality analyses, which algebraically decomposed shared variances among these measures into various unique components. Results in Study 1 indicated that individual differences in repetitive negative thinking were explained largely by the overlap between rumination and worry, but also by some rumination-specific and worry-specific variance. Moreover, the shared variation in rumination and worry explained the frequencies of depression and anxiety symptoms and their overlap. We also found in Study 2 that repetitive negative thinking was positively related to intrusive thoughts and negatively related to mindfulness. These associations were mostly explained by shared variance with rumination and worry, but there was also some mindfulness-specific variance. These results suggest that repetitive negative thinking may indeed lie at the core of the comorbidity between depression and anxiety symptoms, but that it is also a broader construct that encompasses intrusive thoughts and low levels of mindfulness.

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Existing literature on rumination has predominately focused on depressive rumination; thus, there is little research directly comparing different forms of rumination as correlates of psychopathological outcomes. The present study investigated anger and depressive rumination as correlates of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Cross-sectional confirmatory factor analyses on data from 764 young adults from the Colorado Longitudinal Twin Study indicated that anger and depressive rumination were separable at the latent variable level, and were both associated with lifetime symptoms of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. However, depressive rumination was more strongly associated with psychopathology than was anger rumination. Further analysis indicated that depressive rumination was independently associated with internalizing psychopathology, whereas associations between anger rumination and psychopathology were predominately due to shared variance with depressive rumination. Anger rumination was independently associated with externalizing psychopathology in women and was inversely associated with internalizing psychopathology in men. This result supports the clinical relevance of ruminative thought processes and the potential differential utility of anger and depressive content for understanding internalizing and externalizing psychopathology.