(PS2-A21) Gender Differences in Internalizing Symptoms: The Role of Co-rumination and Empathetic Distress

Objective: Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental health diagnoses. It is well-documented that women are more likely to receive these diagnoses than men, with some potential explanations being co-rumination and empathetic distress. The current study examined gender differences in internalizing symptoms, co-rumination, and empathetic distress, as well as how the relationships between these variables differ based on self-identified gender.

Method: Two moderated mediation models were tested, with differential hypotheses made based on whether the outcome variable was anxiety or depression. These two models aimed to explain the role of empathetic distress in the development of internalizing disorders, as well as the interplay between co-rumination and empathetic distress in predicting internalizing disorders. A total of 337 college students (30.0% male, 70.0% female) completed two surveys one month apart. The first survey measured co-rumination and internalizing symptoms at baseline, and the second measured co-rumination, empathetic distress, and internalizing symptoms for the intervening month. Models were tested both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Results: Cross-sectional results showed that empathetic distress is a pathway to anxiety, but not to depression. In longitudinal models, a similar pattern was trending. Moreover, cross-sectional and longitudinal results indicated that men only experience empathetic distress at higher levels of co-rumination, while women experience empathetic distress at all levels of co-rumination. Interestingly, there was no gender difference in co-rumination.

Conclusions: These results provide more context for the gender difference seen in anxiety, such that women are more likely to experience empathetic distress, regardless of how often they engage in co-rumination, leading to increased anxiety compared to men.