Susan Nolen-Hoeksema's Rumination Scale

last update: 7/06/2023

The Rumination Scale

This page provides information on the rumination scale developed by Susan Nolen-Hoeksema. Since its inception in the 1990s, the rumination scale has been modified several times. This webpage points to the most recent document prepared by Susan and emailed on 11/11/2011 outlining her preferred version of the scale. Susan passed away too early in January of 2013. Here are links to a brief biography and her Google Scholar page.

The rumination scale is in the public domain so it is not necessary to ask permission to use the scale. Please cite Treynor et al (2003) in papers using the rumination scale. The scale has been translated into multiple languages. We cannot provide guidance or validation on any modifications, including translations, to the rumination scale.

Treynor, Gonzalez & Nolen-Hoeksema (2003)

Wendy Treynor, a doctoral student at the time, and I began collaborating with Susan in the early 2000s. This collaboration led to the Treynor, Gonzalez & Hoeksema (2003) paper.

In Treynor et al, we made use of the 22 item version of the rumination scale. Susan's notes on those 22 items and how to score them are linked here.

The 2003 Treynor et al paper advocated for separating the 12 items that overlap in content with depression and for analyzing the remaining 10 items as two factors: brooding and pondering. Susan subsequently wrote Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco and Lyubomirsky (2008) where she expanded on the proposal of separating the 12 items overlapping with depression content and analyzing the brooding and pondering factors.

Early versions of the Rumination Scale

For historical purposes I also link to a document Susan prepared in the 1990s that includes a longer version of the rumination scale as well as additional scales. The Treynor et al (2003) paper used the shorter 22 item version, so we recommend using this more recent scale and instructions.

Richard Gonzalez
Amos N. Tversky Collegiate Professor of Psychology and Statistics
Research Professor, Institute for Social Research
University of Michigan