The role of depressive symptoms and rumination on subjective confidence in recognition of others’ emotions: an exploratory study

ABSTRACT Objective Depression has unfavourable effects on emotion perception, and potential downstream consequences on social functioning. However, it is not clear if depressed individuals themselves are aware of these effects. We explored the relation between the independent and interactive contributions of depressive symptoms and rumination on self-perceived emotion recognition ability. Method Depressive symptoms and ruminative tendencies of 108 university students (54 females) were measured, and participants rated both their self-perceived ability to perceive emotion, and to recognize the change from one emotion to another, in other people. Results Multiple regressions showed rumination and depressive symptoms both independently and interactively explain participants’ beliefs about their emotion recognition skills but only among females. Female ruminators thought they were more accurate, whereas those with more severe depressive symptoms believed they were less accurate. Interestingly, the relation between rumination and accuracy depended on depressed mood, such that rumination predicted self-perceived emotion recognition to a greater extent as depression increased. The pattern of findings were weaker and non-significant for males. Conclusions At least in women, both depression and rumination are, independently and interactively, correlated with self-perceived ability to recognize emotion. These findings have implications for both research and clinical practice. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: (1) Depression has detrimental effects on emotion recognition, and possible downstream effects on social functioning. (2) It is not known whether depressed individuals themselves are aware of the effects of depressive symptoms on their social interactions. (3) The tendency towards prolonged, repetitive thinking about one’s own thoughts, feelings, and problems – termed rumination – might explain depression-related emotion recognition deficiencies. What this topic adds: (1) The current study examined the independent and interactive effects of depressive symptoms and rumination on self-perceived emotion recognition. Overall, results revealed main and interaction effects of rumination and depressive symptoms on self-perceived emotion recognition but only among females. (2) Inspection of interaction effects revealed that somewhat counterintuitively, females with higher levels of rumination reported greater self-perceived emotion recognition, controlling for depression. (3) Among females, more depressed individuals who tended not to ruminate reported the least competency in detecting the emotions of others. Put another way, the negative relation between depression and self-perceived emotion recognition is stronger when people do not ruminate.