MOANERS REJOICE! RANTING WITH YOUR FRIENDS CAN MAKE YOU HAPPIER

A new study has shed light on the surprising benefits of having a moan
Researchers claim that ranting with your friends can make you happier

From Finding Nemo's Marlin to Harry Potter's Moaning Myrtle, many film characters are known for their constant whining.

Usually, this is seen as an undesirable trait.

However, a new study has shed light on the surprising benefits of having a moan.

Researchers from Southwest University claim that ranting with your friends can make you happier.

'Our research highlights the important role strong friendships hold, which can mitigate these negative emotions and strengthen interpersonal relationships through seeking social support,' said Xuemei Li, lead author of the study.

In their study, the team set out to understand the effects of co-rumination - the excessive discussion of negative issues.

'Co-rumination is considered a type of communication with trade-off effects and has drawn the attention of many researchers,' the team wrote in their study, published in Personality and Individual Differences.

In the first part of their study, the researchers surveyed 2,614 middle school students about their friendship qualities, life satisfaction, and depression.

Next, the team examined the relationship between life satisfaction and co-rumination, which was split into two categories - supportive discussion and obsessive whining.

The results revealed that co-ruminations - particularly having supportive discussions - were positively associated with life satisfaction.

'Co-rumination was positively correlated with life satisfaction, suggesting that "the more we co-ruminate, the happier we are",' the researchers wrote.

Meanwhile, obsessively whining was only seen in girls and not boys, and was found the be negatively associated with life satisfaction.

Interestingly, the researchers found that friendship quality mitigated the negative effect of obsessively whining.

'[This] indirectly suggested that "the more we co-ruminate, the happier we are",' the researchers added.

The researchers hope the findings could help to shape targeted intervention methods.

'Future studies can explore the root causes of these differences and develop precise intervention strategies,' they concluded.

2024-05-08T13:20:06Z dg43tfdfdgfd