A longitudinal model of rejection sensitivity and internalizing symptoms: Testing emotion regulation deficits as a mechanism and outcome of symptoms

Abstract

Objective: Individuals who experience heightened rejection sensitivity (RS) are at greater risk of increased internalizing symptoms over time. This is especially so for adolescents and young adults, as this is a time of many social transitions and an average increase in such symptoms. Yet, little longitudinal research has explored specific mechanisms that may help explain how RS lends itself to increased symptomology during adolescence and young adulthood. In this study, we tested the summative effect of emotion dysregulation, expressive suppression, and social avoidance (i.e., ER-deficits) as mechanisms. Moreover, we estimated bidirectional temporal associations between ER-deficits and symptoms. Method: Participants included 402 adolescents and young adults aged 17 to 27 years (M = 19.9 years, 66% female) who completed two assessments over a 1-year period. Results: In a path model, participants who reported more RS increased in anxious symptoms, and RS was indirectly associated with increased anxious and depressive symptoms via the three ER-deficits. Additionally, cross-lagged panel analyses showed that dysregulation and suppression predicted increased symptoms over time, while anxious symptoms predicted increased social avoidance over time. Conclusion: These findings expand understanding of the role of RS in young people's increasing internalizing symptoms, implicating ER-deficits in these processes.

Rejection sensitivity and the development of social anxiety symptoms during adolescence: A five-year longitudinal study

“…These findings suggest that rejection sensitivity is a unique risk factor for a high level of social anxiety symptoms across the early years of adolescence and can identify youth at risk of continued symptoms into middle to later adolescence. In particular, and consistent with theory and research on the risk that social-information biases present in the development of youth anxiety (Spence & Rapee, 2016), adolescents higher in rejection sensitivity are more likely to interpret neutral or ambiguous social cues as rejection, react strongly to overt experience of rejection, and become more distressed from these social interactions into the future (Downey & Feldman, 1996; Gardner et al, 2020; Zimmer-Gembeck, 2016). These findings support the relevance for continued examination of rejection sensitivity as another cognitive-affective risk factor for maintenance of, or increases in, social anxiety symptoms.…”

“…Furthermore, rejection sensitivity has been described as a mechanism that explains why rejection experiences are associated with maladjustment in multiple domains (Downey & Feldman, 1996; Downey et al, 1998a), and rejection sensitivity does seem to have far-reaching negative implications for psychosocial adjustment (see Duffy et al, 2020 or Zimmer-Gembeck, 2016 for reviews). Most relevant to the current study, rejection sensitivity has been associated with more social anxiety among adolescents (Bowker et al, 2011; Ding et al, 2020), and rejection sensitivity has been identified as a predictor of increased symptoms across a short period of time during late adolescence and young adulthood (Gardner et al, 2020).…”

“…More generally, there has been an upsurge in research on emotion regulation and dysregulation as risk markers and/or protective factors in the ontogenesis of social anxiety symptoms and disorder (Carthy et al, 2010; Gross & Jazaieri, 2014). Influenced by theories of stress and coping, emotion regulation has been described as a transdiagnostic risk for many disorders that are amenable to intervention efforts (Compas et al, 2017; Dryman & Heimberg, 2018), and it is possible that emotion dysregulation positively covaries with rejection sensitivity in adolescents, as has been found in university students (Gardner et al, 2020).…”

Social Rejection Sensitivity and its Role in Adolescent Emotional Disorder Symptomatology

“…While the constructs are interrelated, and indeed, biased interpretation is referenced in the definition of SRS (i.e., the tendency to readily perceive rejection), there are components of SRS that do not map closely onto interpretation bias. For example, the emotional reaction that follows perceived or actual rejection may contribute to socioemotional disorder symptoms via a pathway other than interpretation bias, such as affective dysregulation (Gardner et al, 2020).…”

Kecenderungan Neurotisme melalui Karekteristik Emosional dalam Personaliti Watak Karya Kreatif

“…Personaliti yang wujud dalam individu adalah sama ada bersesuaian dan tidak bersesuaian berdasarkan sifat yang dimilikinya itu (Gadbois, 2014). Personaliti dalam diri individu tidak dapat dipisahkan dan saling lengkap-melengkapi antara satu sama lain (Melanie & Modecki, 2020). Individu yang berpersonaliti kebiasaannya dipengaruhi oleh emosi dalam hal membuat keputusan dan tindakannya.…”