Children with rejection expectations and their social strategies: Associations with peer experiences and social behaviors

Effective social information processing is critical to adaptive interpersonal functioning. Children with rejection expectations (RE) often demonstrate negative social behaviors (i.e., aggression and withdrawal), which are associated with poor social outcomes. Therefore, this researcher investigated the social information processing of children; that is, the ways in which their understanding and interpretation of their social interactions may contribute to their demonstration of maladaptive social behaviors. It was hypothesized that children who expect to be rejected by their peers and select maladaptive social strategies (i.e., avoidance and sabotage) would demonstrate negative social behaviors (i.e., withdrawal and aggression). Children with RE, however, who choose the strategy of joining were expected to demonstrate less negative social behaviors. In addition, it was anticipated that the quality of the children's peer interactions would influence their pattern of social-cognitive responding. These processes were examined within a mediational model in which the peer experiences of children were hypothesized to influence their social behaviors through their association with the children's understanding of and intended reaction to their peer interactions. Concurrent, longitudinal, and reverse models were evaluated.;Participants were 175, 3rd--8th grade boys and girls. Participants completed three self-report questionnaires, one assessing children's expectations of rejection, one evaluating the children's strategy selection, and another assessing positive and negative peer interactions. They also completed a peer nomination inventory assessing positive and negative peer experiences as well as aggression and withdrawal behaviors. Results indicated that none of the proposed mediational models was supported. Children's experiences within the peer group were not found to influence their social behaviors through their influence on children's understanding of and intended response to their social interactions. These findings are supported largely by the absence of a relation between perceptions of peer experiences and the manner in which children understand and interpret their interactions with their peers. However, a number of the individual variables demonstrated significant relations with one another and provide important information as to the social-cognitive processing of children with expectations of rejection. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.