The Relationship Between Corumination and Health in Young Women: Evidence from Facebook Communications

*Faculty mentor Reliance on technology for communication has increased dramatically over the last three decades (Tapscott, 2009). Social networking websites such as Facebook® provide users with new ways to communicate. Recent statistics estimated that more than 500 million people use Facebook daily (Facebook, 2012). As new ways of communicating develop, there is a need to understand the effects that these new forms of communication may have on the health and well-being of individuals. Prior research has shown that some forms of interpersonal communication may be adversely associated with health and wellbeing (Byrd-Craven, Geary, Rose, & Ponzi, 2008; Byrd-Craven, Granger, & Auer, 2011; Calmes & Roberts, 2008; Rose, 2002; Rose, Carlson, & Waller, 2007). Rose (2002) identified a type of communication that focuses on negative topics, in which individuals excessively rehash problems, as corumination. Higher levels of corumination have been positively related to symptoms of depression and anxiety (Rose, 2002; Rose et al., 2007; see also Calmes & Roberts, 2008). Recent work has also shown that higher levels of corumination are related to higher levels of cortisol and alpha amylase, which are two biological indicators of stress (Byrd-Craven et al., 2008; Byrd-Craven et al., 2011). The purpose of the present research was to investigate the novelty of the extent to which individuals using Facebook engage in corumination and whether corumination carried out on Facebook is associated with health. Researchers have found that corumination occurs more often in the friendships of young girls than the friendships of young boys (Rose, 2002; Rose et al., 2007). This research has shown that corumination is positively related to beneficial aspects including relationship satisfaction and to detrimental aspects including depression. Young women and girls who report higher levels of corumination in their friendships feel closer to their friends than do those who report lower levels of corumination (Rose, 2002). Friends who engage in higher levels of corumination also rate their ABSTRACT. Prior research has shown that face-to-face communications that involve excessive focus on problems and negative aspects of situations are related to higher stress. This type of communication has been called corumination (Rose, 2002). We hypothesized that corumination can also occur in communications carried out on Facebook®. We analyzed 100 female college students’ communications carried out through Facebook and examined their self-reported corumination behaviors from daily life. The results supported the hypothesis that individuals coruminate when communicating through Facebook conversations similar to the way that individuals communicate face to face. The results showed that corumination in daily life had a significant negative association with health in an analysis that took into account the positive effects of social support, F(3, 89) = 3.81, p = . 02. Implications for interventions designed to reduce stress and to improve overall health of Facebook users are discussed. The Relationship Between Corumination and Health in Young Women: Evidence from Facebook Communications