Transgression-Related Co-Rumination: Scale Validation and Prediction of Relational Outcomes

Co-rumination refers to the extended and/or recurring discussion of issues in social relationships. The extant research tends to conceptualize co-rumination in terms of general interaction styles, commonly between individuals who act as a source of support for one another. Little work has examined co-rumination in conflict contexts, between victims and offenders, as an event-specific process to come to terms with wrongdoing. The present research develops and validates a new scale measuring three distinct approaches to transgression-related co-rumination: co-reflection, co-brooding, and co-avoidance. Within the context of close romantic relationships, we show that these new co-rumination scales are associated with conciliatory sentiments including victim forgiveness, offender self-forgiveness, and relationship commitment. This research highlights co-rumination between parties as an important mechanism to consider in the process of relationship repair.