The Impact of a Need for Closure and Support Quality on Verbal and Cognitive Brooding

• Published in: Communication research Vol. 46; no. 6; pp. 757 - 784
• Main Authors: Afifi, Tamara D., Merrill, Anne, Davis, Sharde, Denes, Amanda, Coveleski, Samantha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.08.2019; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Anxiety; Communication research; Friendship; Verbal communication; anxiety; friendship; need for closure; brooding rumination; co-rumination; verbal brooding; satisfaction
• ISSN: 0093-6502; 1552-3810
• DOI: 10.1177/0093650216644018

This study examined whether a need for closure explains why people verbally brood and whether the support received when they verbally brood during a conversation reduces anxiety and cognitive brooding afterward. In two studies, friends came into the laboratory and were randomly assigned to be a subject or confederate. The confederate was trained to provide “good support” or “poor support” to the subject who talked about a stressor he or she could not stop thinking and talking about recently with that friend. The overall models suggested that individuals were more likely to verbally brood when they had a higher need for closure and were more likely to feel better and positively reframe the stressor when the friend was supportive rather than unsupportive, which reduced anxiety. However, if individuals did feel better and/or positively reframed their stressor, even if they received “poor support,” it reduced their anxiety. Finally, positive reframing of the stressor, rather than simply feeling better, helped subjects reduce their cognitive brooding 20 minutes after the conversation.