To explore the mediating roles of positive and negative rumination in the relationship between depressive symptoms and executive function and its subdomains (inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) among college students.

During September and October 2024, an electronic questionnaire was distributed using convenience sampling through the “Wenjuanxing” platform to universities in 30 provinces and municipalities across China, such as Chongqing and Sichuan.A total of 699 college students were surveyed online using patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), positive and negative rumination scale (PANRS), and behavior rating inventory of executive function-adult version (BRIEF-A). The participants were divided into depressive symptom group (n=466, 66.67%) and a non-depressive symptom group (n=233, 33.33%) based on PHQ-9 score. Differences in scores between the 2 groups were compared, and the relationships between variables as well as the mediating effects were analyzed.

① Scores of negative rumination were significantly higher in the depressive symptom group than in the non-depressive symptom group [(30.27±4.93） vs （26.42±3.81）， t=-10.451，P<0.001], while executive function and its subdomains, as well as positive rumination, were significantly lower (r=0.394，P<0.01). ② Depressive symptoms showed a significant positive correlation with negative rumination and a significant negative correlation with executive function and its subdomains (P<0.01), but no significant correlation with positive rumination (P>0.05).③ Negative rumination exhibited a mediating effect in the relationship between depressive symptoms and executive function, accounting for 10.85% of the total effect, whereas positive rumination served as a positive predictor of executive function (β=0.086， P<0.05).④ The mediating effect of negative rumination between depressive symptoms and executive function subdomains demonstrated domain specificity, reaching statistical significance only for inhibitory control and working memory, with indirect effect ratios of 8.11% and 16.94% respectively, but not for cognitive flexibility. No significant mediating effect was observed for positive rumination.

Negative rumination plays a partial mediating role between depressive symptoms and executive function (particularly in inhibitory control and working memory) among college students, and it can be regarded as a core modifiable target for interventions to improve executive dysfunction in depressed college students.