Rejection sensitivity and the development of social anxiety symptoms during adolescence: A five-year longitudinal study
File version
Accepted Manuscript (AM)
Author(s)
Zimmer-Gembeck, Melanie J
Gardner, Alex A
Hawes, Tanya
Masters, Mitchell R
Waters, Allison M
Farrell, Lara J
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2021
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Rejection sensitivity is a bias toward expecting rejection that can result from negative social experiences and degrade emotional adjustment. In this study, rejection sensitivity was expected to predict patterns of adolescent social anxiety over 5 years when considered alongside other known or expected risk and protective factors: peer rejection (peer-reported), emotion dysregulation, self-worth, temperament (parent-reported), female gender, and grade. Participants were 377 Australian students (45% boys; 79% White, 15% Asian) aged 10 to 13 years (M = 12.0, SD =.90) and their parents (84%) who completed seven repeated surveys ...
View more >Rejection sensitivity is a bias toward expecting rejection that can result from negative social experiences and degrade emotional adjustment. In this study, rejection sensitivity was expected to predict patterns of adolescent social anxiety over 5 years when considered alongside other known or expected risk and protective factors: peer rejection (peer-reported), emotion dysregulation, self-worth, temperament (parent-reported), female gender, and grade. Participants were 377 Australian students (45% boys; 79% White, 15% Asian) aged 10 to 13 years (M = 12.0, SD =.90) and their parents (84%) who completed seven repeated surveys across 5 years. In an unconditional latent growth model, social anxiety symptoms had a significant quadratic pattern of growth, with symptoms increasing about midway into the study when adolescents were age 14, on average. In a model with all predictors, rejection sensitivity was uniquely associated with a higher intercept and a more pronounced quadratic growth pattern of social anxiety symptoms. Other predictors of growth in symptoms were the temperamental trait of negativity affectivity and emotion dysregulation; negative affectivity was associated with a higher intercept and a more pronounced quadratic pattern, and emotion dysregulation was associated with a higher intercept and a less pronounced quadratic pattern. Gender was associated with the intercept, with girls higher in symptoms than boys.
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View more >Rejection sensitivity is a bias toward expecting rejection that can result from negative social experiences and degrade emotional adjustment. In this study, rejection sensitivity was expected to predict patterns of adolescent social anxiety over 5 years when considered alongside other known or expected risk and protective factors: peer rejection (peer-reported), emotion dysregulation, self-worth, temperament (parent-reported), female gender, and grade. Participants were 377 Australian students (45% boys; 79% White, 15% Asian) aged 10 to 13 years (M = 12.0, SD =.90) and their parents (84%) who completed seven repeated surveys across 5 years. In an unconditional latent growth model, social anxiety symptoms had a significant quadratic pattern of growth, with symptoms increasing about midway into the study when adolescents were age 14, on average. In a model with all predictors, rejection sensitivity was uniquely associated with a higher intercept and a more pronounced quadratic growth pattern of social anxiety symptoms. Other predictors of growth in symptoms were the temperamental trait of negativity affectivity and emotion dysregulation; negative affectivity was associated with a higher intercept and a more pronounced quadratic pattern, and emotion dysregulation was associated with a higher intercept and a less pronounced quadratic pattern. Gender was associated with the intercept, with girls higher in symptoms than boys.
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Journal Title
International Journal of Behavioral Development
Volume
45
Issue
3
Funder(s)
ARC
Grant identifier(s)
DP170102547
Copyright Statement
Zimmer-Gembeck, MJ; Gardner, AA; Hawes, T; Masters, MR; Waters, AM; Farrell, LJ, Rejection sensitivity and the development of social anxiety symptoms during adolescence: A five-year longitudinal study, International Journal of Behavioral Development, 2021, 45 (3), pp. 204-215. Copyright 2021 The Authors. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.
Subject
Psychology
Cognitive and computational psychology
Applied and developmental psychology
Clinical and health psychology
Social and personality psychology
Social Sciences
Psychology, Developmental
Rejection sensitivity
social anxiety