Rumination and Depression among University Students after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Emerging Patterns and Conceptual Insights

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated long-term consequences for students' mental health that persist beyond the post-pandemic phase. Prolonged academic pressure, behavioral changes in social interaction, sleep disturbances, and weakened social support contribute to the development of ruminative thinking patterns that reinforce and sustain depressive symptoms among university students. This study aims to examine the patterns of rumination emerging among post-pandemic students and to analyze their role in the formation and persistence of depression within Indonesian higher education contexts. This research employs a qualitative conceptual-analytical approach through a critical synthesis of reputable national scholarly literature on student mental health during and after the pandemic. The findings indicate that rumination functions as a central cognitive mechanism linking academic stress, social-behavioral changes, reduced interpersonal support, and sleep disruption to persistent depression. These results suggest that mental health interventions in higher education should focus not only on reducing external stressors but also on restructuring ruminative thought patterns, strengthening social support systems, and enhancing students' emotional regulation capacities. This study contributes an integrative conceptual framework for understanding post-pandemic student mental health and offers a foundation for developing more contextual and sustainable mental health policies in universities.