Perseverative cognition, distracted communication, and well‐being in everyday social interaction

This study examined how rumination and worry experienced within varying contexts of everyday life are associated with current-moment and cross-moment indicators of subjective well-being. We also investigated if, in the context of social interaction, distracted communication uniquely predicts subjective well-being and mediates the link between perseverative cognition and well-being. Using experience sampling, we found that the effects of rumination and worry on subjective well-being were social-context dependent. Rumination experienced alone, relative to during interaction, was a stronger positive predictor of current and later-in-the-day loneliness. In contrast, worry experienced alone, but not during interaction, negatively predicted later loneliness. Distracted communication accounted for unique variance in current affective well-being and current and later loneliness, but its role as a mediator was uncertain.