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Rejection sensitivity and adolescents' perceptions of romantic interactions
Jerika C Norona1, Joseph F Salvatore1, Deborah P Welsh1
1Department of Psychology, 305 Austin Peay Building, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-0900, USA.
Journal of Adolescence
|October 6, 2014
Summary
Adolescents highly sensitive to rejection perceive their partners' behaviors as more conflictual than neutral, even when observers disagree. This heightened perception impacts adolescent mental health and relationship well-being.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Rejection sensitivity (RS) links to expecting negative intent from romantic partners.
- This perception may occur even for neutral behaviors when viewed by others.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if adolescents high in RS perceive partner behaviors as more conflictual than neutral observers do.
- To examine this within adolescent couples using a video-recall procedure.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a Video-Recall Procedure with 386 US adolescents (50% girls) in romantic relationships.
- Compared adolescents' perceptions of partner behavior conflict with trained third-party observer codings.
Main Results:
- Adolescents with higher rejection sensitivity rated their partners' behaviors as more conflictual.
- Observers frequently coded the same behaviors as neutral, highlighting a discrepancy in perception.
- This effect was evident at the micro-analytic level of behavior analysis.
Conclusions:
- Rejection sensitivity significantly biases adolescents' interpretation of romantic partner behavior towards conflict.
- Findings underscore the impact of RS on adolescent relationship dynamics and mental health.
- Interventions targeting RS may improve adolescent relationship satisfaction and well-being.
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