The relationships between rejection sensitivity, peer social standing, and perceived social acceptance among pre-adolescents

Peer social standing in middle childhood has been the subject of much research in recent years. Peer rejection has been linked to social maladjustment, social withdrawal, juvenile delinquency, and aggression (Campos & Rohner, 1992; Cantrell & Prinz, 1985; Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Patterson, 1982; Whitbeck et al., 1992). Rejection sensitivity is a cognitive-affective processing disposition where individuals high in rejection sensitivity display anxious and/or angry expectations of and reactions to rejection (Downey & Feldman, 1996). The present study drew on social standing research to examine whether there was a relationship between peer social standing and interpersonal sensitivity to rejection and tested the hypothesis that perceived social acceptance mediated the relationship between actual social acceptance/social rejection and rejection sensitivity.;A total of 146 sixth and eighth grade males and females completed peer nominations of liked/disliked agemates and reported self-perceptions of social standing on the Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985). Participants also completed the Children's Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (Downey et al., 1998) by responding to hypothetical situations involving potential social rejection by teachers and peers and by answering questions designed to tap their anxiety, anger, and cognitions regarding the possibility of being shunned in interpersonal relationships.;Analyses did not support a direct relationship between peer ratings of social acceptance and social rejection and rejection sensitivity However, children highly disliked by peers displayed higher levels of anxious expectations of rejection when they simultaneously had low levels of liking ratings. Correlations and regression analyses revealed that self-report of social acceptance significantly predicted key components of rejection sensitivity, indicating that children with low self-perceptions of social acceptance were more likely to have anxious and angry expectations of and reactions to rejection when compared with children with high self-perceptions of social acceptance. Exploratory factor analyses conducted in the present study challenged the viewpoint of rejection sensitivity as a unitary construct. Exploratory factor analyses of the Children's Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire suggested more statistically- and conceptually-sound subscales than the original subscales described in the literature by Downey and colleagues (1998). Overall, the results reveal a more precise and inclusive measurement and definition of rejection sensitivity.