Suchergebnisse

Multiple theories and models (e.g., attachment theory, rejection sensitivity) suggest that relationship expectations, such as views of others as trustworthy, reliable and supportive, are important outcomes of relationship experiences. We used a new measure to assess children's (N = 837, age 9 to 13 years) optimistic and pessimistic relationship expectations of their family relationships separate from their expectations of peers/others. Our aim was to investigate whether family structure, interparental conflict and parenting dimensions were important correlates of these two aspects of children's relationship expectations. Six maternal and paternal dimensions of parenting were measured, including warmth, rejection, structure, chaos, autonomy support, and coercive behaviour. Children who reported witnessing more interparental conflict had more negative relationship expectations about their family and about others, but these associations were no longer significant when the parenting dimensions were considered. Family structure was not associated with children's relationship expectations of peers/others, but children who had experienced parental divorce had less positive family relationship expectations. Overall, many of the six parenting dimensions were associated with family expectations, but fewer were associated with expectations of peers/others. Further, the maternal parenting dimensions associated with children's relationship expectations differed from the paternal dimensions. These findings are important for understanding how children think about their relationships and may guide the development of interventions targeting children of divorce.

AbstractTheory suggests that rejection sensitivity, a social cognitive processing style characterised by anxious and angry expectations of rejection, develops from experiences of rejection or acceptance by others. The purpose of this study of 417 children and early adolescents (age 9 to 13) was to examine how relationship experiences are directly and interactively associated with their rejection sensitivity. In a multivariate analysis, there was an association of rejection by parents and by peers with rejection sensitivity, with a stronger association between peer rejection and sensitivity than between parent rejection and sensitivity. Regarding interactive effects, peer rejection was found to have a strong association with rejection sensitivity among participants with low or high parent acceptance, and among those with high friendship satisfaction. Yet, there was evidence of a stronger association between peer rejection and rejection sensitivity among those with low parent acceptance or high friendship quality. This was because rejection sensitivity was highest when peer rejection was high and parent acceptance was low, and sensitivity was lowest when peer rejection was low and friendship quality was high. Findings show how young people's relationships in different domains uniquely co-vary with rejection sensitivity and interact in accounting for angry and anxious expectations of rejection by others.