Adolescents’ True-Self Behavior and Parent-Adolescent Boundary Dissolution: The Mediating Role of Rejection Sensitivity

Abstract

The construction of a coherent true self is one of the central processes in adolescents’ lives that relates to their well-being. However, little is known about the factors that contribute to its construction. The current study explored the contribution of parents-adolescent boundary dissolution and rejection sensitivity to true-self behavior and motives for false-self behavior in a sample of Israeli early to mid-adolescents (N = 351, Mean age = 14.00). The findings indicated that triangulation was negatively correlated with true-self behavior with mother, father, and classmates, and positively with motives for false-self behavior with parents and classmates. Psychological control and guilt induction were negatively correlated with adolescents’ true-self behavior with father and positively with motives for false-self behavior with parents and classmates, whereas parentification was negatively correlated with adolescents’ true-self behavior with father and positively with motives for false-self behavior with classmates. Adolescents’ expectations of anticipated rejection were negatively correlated with true-self behavior with mother, father, and classmates, and positively correlated with motives for false-self behavior with parents and classmates. Adolescents’ rejection sensitivity mediated the link between boundary dissolution and adolescents’ motives for false-self behavior. The findings highlight the role of rejection sensitivity as a mechanism through which a dissolution of boundaries contributes to Israeli adolescents’ false-self construction.