Some children are more affected than others by their upbringing due to their increased sensitivity to the environment. More sensitive children are at heightened risk for the development of internalizing problems, particularly when experiencing unsupportive parenting. However, little is known about how the interplay between children’s sensitivity and parenting leads to higher levels of depressive symptoms. In the current study, we investigated the interaction between early parenting and children’s sensitivity on levels of depressive symptomatology in middle childhood, exploring the role of rumination as a possible mediator in a community sample. Participants included 196 USA resident families, from a middle class and mostly European–American background, and their healthy children, followed up from age 3 until 9 and 12 years. Environmental sensitivity was assessed observationally when children were 3 years old. Parenting style was based on parent-report at the age of 3 years. When children were nine, they completed questionnaires on rumination and depressive symptoms (repeated at 12 years). Analyses were run applying a Bayesian approach. Children’s sensitivity interacted with permissive parenting in predicting rumination at age 9. Rumination, in turn, was associated with depressive symptoms at age 9 and, to a lesser extent, at age 12. No relevant interactions emerged for authoritative and authoritarian parenting. Sensitive children may be at heightened risk for internalizing problems when exposed to a permissive parenting style. Permissive parenting was associated with increased ruminative coping strategies in sensitive children which, in turn, predicted higher levels of depression. Hence, rumination emerged as an important cognitive risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms in sensitive children.

由于对环境的敏感性增加，一些孩子比其他孩子更容易受到成长过程的影响。更敏感的孩子出现内化问题的风险更高，尤其是在经历不支持的养育方式时。然而，人们对儿童的敏感性和养育方式之间的相互作用如何导致更高水平的抑郁症状知之甚少。在当前的研究中，我们调查了早期养育和儿童对童年中期抑郁症状水平的敏感性之间的相互作用，探索反刍作为社区样本中可能的中介因素的作用。参与者包括 196 个来自中产阶级且大多是欧美背景的美国居民家庭及其健康的孩子，随访范围从 3 岁一直到 9 岁和 12 岁。当儿童 3 岁时，通过观察评估环境敏感性。教养方式基于 3 岁时家长的报告。当孩子们九岁时，他们完成了关于沉思和抑郁症状的调查问卷（在 12 岁时重复）。应用贝叶斯方法进行分析。儿童的敏感性与宽容的养育方式相互作用，预测 9 岁时的沉思。反过来，沉思与 9 岁时的抑郁症状相关，在较小程度上与 12 岁时的抑郁症状相关。权威和独裁养育方式没有出现相关的相互作用。当敏感的孩子处于宽容的教养方式中时，他们出现内化问题的风险可能会更高。宽容的养育方式与敏感儿童的反思性应对策略增加有关，而这反过来又预示着抑郁症的发病率会更高。因此，沉思成为敏感儿童出现抑郁症状的重要认知危险因素。