Invisible on Campus: Exploring Predictors of Perceived Student Ostracism

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of maladaptive beliefs in the relationship between rejection sensitivity and social anxiety among young adults. Methods and Materials: The study employed a descriptive correlational design and included 408 participants aged 18 to 30 from Turkey, selected using Morgan and Krejcie’s sample size table. Participants completed three standardized self-report instruments: the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ), and the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS). Data were analyzed using SPSS-27 for descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation, and AMOS-21 for structural equation modeling (SEM). Model fit was evaluated through standard indices, including Chi-square, RMSEA, CFI, TLI, GFI, and AGFI. Assumptions for SEM were tested and confirmed prior to analysis. Findings: Pearson correlation revealed significant positive associations between social anxiety and maladaptive beliefs (r = .58, p < .001), rejection sensitivity and social anxiety (r = .51, p < .001), and rejection sensitivity and maladaptive beliefs (r = .47, p < .001). The structural model demonstrated good fit (χ²/df = 2.21, RMSEA = 0.053, CFI = 0.96). SEM results indicated that rejection sensitivity significantly predicted maladaptive beliefs (β = .47, p < .001) and social anxiety (β = .31, p < .001), while maladaptive beliefs also significantly predicted social anxiety (β = .42, p < .001). The indirect path from rejection sensitivity to social anxiety via maladaptive beliefs was also significant (β = .20, p < .001). Conclusion: Findings suggest that maladaptive beliefs partially mediate the relationship between rejection sensitivity and social anxiety, highlighting the importance of cognitive distortions as psychological mechanisms underlying social anxiety and pointing to potential targets for intervention.

Objectives This study analyzed the structural relationship among adult attachment, rejection sensitivity, ambivalence over emotional expressiveness, and social anxiety of university students. Methods For this purpose, a survey was conducted on 500 college students at D and S private universities in Busan Metropolitan City, and 468 data were used for the final analysis, Correlation analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between adult attachment, rejection sensitivity, ambivalence over emotional expressiveness, and social anxiety of college students using the 27.0 program, and structural relationship analysis was conducted using the AMOS 27.0 program. Results The analysis results are as follows. First, university students' adult attachment, rejection sensitivity, and emotional expression ambivalence had a direct effect on social anxiety. Second, university students' adult attachment had an indirect effect on social anxiety by mediating rejection sensitivity. Third, university students' adult attachment had an indirect effect on social anxiety by mediating emotional expressive ambivalence. Fourth, in the relationship between university students' adult attachment and social anxiety, a partial mediating effect was shown in the sequential mediating effect of rejection sensitivity and emotional expression ambivalence. Conclusions In the relationship between university students' adult attachment and social anxiety, the mediating role of rejection sensitivity and emotional expression ambivalence as mediating variables was verified and suggested that it is an important variable in lowering social anxiety.

Infidelity is any behavior that breaks the implied agreement of exclusivity within a romantic relationship and is a leading cause of divorce. Previous literature has established a relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and infidelity perpetration. As experiencing childhood adversity does not guarantee an individual will engage in infidelity, mechanisms explaining this relationship should be explored. We investigated whether avoidant and anxious attachment styles mediate the relationship between ACEs and cheating frequency. A sample of 584 participants aged 18-82 years (M = 35.31, SD = 11.68, 67.0% female) was recruited and completed online versions of the Childhood Experiences Survey-17, the Relationship Structures Questionnaire, and frequency of cheating behavior in their current or most recent relationship. After dichotomizing gender and testing assumptions, data from 553 participants were available for analysis. A parallel mediation provided support for the first hypothesis, and partial support for the second. Specifically, ACEs were positively associated with anxious and avoidant attachment styles, but only avoidant attachment was significantly and positively associated with cheating frequency. As such, only avoidant attachment acted in a manner consistent with a mediator in the relationship between ACEs and infidelity. This result suggests a potential link between childhood adversity and the development of both avoidant and anxious attachment styles, but that individuals with an avoidant attachment style are more likely to engage in infidelity. These findings provide insight into the role attachment styles play in infidelity post-childhood adversity, and have the potential to guide therapeutic interventions for affected individuals.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the correlation between Avoidant and Anxious Attachment Styles and Social Anxiety, contributing to a deeper understanding of these interconnected factors among undergraduate students.
 Methodology: Convenient Sampling was used to recruit 350 participants aged 18-26 from Forman Christian College (FCCU) in Lahore, Pakistan. The study administered the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (R-AAS) for close relationships and the Social Anxiety Scale (SAS). Data analysis was conducted using SPSS v.20, with Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient, Simple Linear Regression, and Independent Sample t-Test applied.
 Findings: A statistically significant positive correlation was found between Anxious Attachment Style and Social Anxiety. Anxious Attachment Style was revealed to positively predict 19% variance in Social Anxiety with p value <.001. A significant gender difference was found among Social Anxiety and Anxious Attachment Style, but none among Avoidant Attachment Style.
 Implications: Practical implications include tailored clinical interventions and support groups for holistic treatment. Recognizing attachment styles can improve intimate relationships. Gender differences in social anxiety suggest women may need gender-sensitive therapy to address social challenges in education and careers.

Early experiences and childhood perceptions of interparental conflict (IPC) have consistently been shown to have detrimental consequences for future psychological adjustment, in particular for attachment and couple relationships during adolescence and adulthood. We hypothesized that 1. IPC would predict anxious and avoidant attachment styles, and three relational attitudes associated with couple relationships: sense of relational entitlement, pathological concern, and authenticity; and 2. Attachment style would mediate the associations between IPC and these three relational attitudes. Measures of perceived IPC, attachment orientations, relational entitlement, pathological concern, and authenticity in romantic relationships were completed online by 280 young adults aged 19–32. IPC was positively correlated with anxious and avoidant attachment styles, restricted and inflated sense of entitlement, and pathological concern and negatively with authenticity. A structural equations model showed that IPC predicted avoidant and anxious attachment styles, which positively predicted an inflated and restricted sense of relational entitlement and pathological concern and negatively predicted authenticity. Attachment styles fully mediated the relationships between IPC and the relational attitudes. IPC therefore seems to be related to imbalanced attitudes in romantic relationships, due in part to a propensity toward insecure attachment orientations. Children with insecure attachment who are exposed to significant levels of IPC may be at high risk for relationship problems later in life because of difficulties exposing their vulnerability, assessing need fulfillment realistically, and caring for themselves as well as others. They should therefore be helped to communicate their relational needs to significant others, in particular to their partners.

Longitudinal relationship of empathy and social anxiety among adolescents: The mediation roles of psychological inflexibility and rejection sensitivity

Social anxiety is a common problem. Several factors play a role in the development and maintenance of social anxiety. Since relationship with parents is specifically an important factor, it is important to examine social anxiety from an attachment theory perspective. Studies indicate that early maladaptive schemas and rejection sensitivity may play a role in the relationship between attachment pattern and psychological distress. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to examine the mediating role of early maladaptive schema domains and rejection sensitivity in the relationship between internal working models of attachment and social anxiety. The sample of the study consisted of 557 university students (199 male, 358 female) between the ages of 17-27 (M = 20.69, SD = 1.79). Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Relationship Scales Questionnaire, Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form 3, and Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire were administered to the participants. Results of the mediation analysis with Bootstrapping showed that Impaired Autonomy schema domain and rejection sensitivity mediated the relationships between attachment self-model and social anxiety. Moreover, schema domains of Impaired Autonomy, Impaired Limits and Unrelenting Standards, and rejection sensitivity mediated the relationship between attachment other-model and social anxiety. The current study may contribute to the literature by providing an understanding of how the relationship between attachment and social anxiety may emerge. Clinicians aiming to increase clients’ functionality and quality of life should/could focus on their clinical practice on the above early maladaptive schema domains and rejection sensitivity.

Coping strategies may play a central role in reducing rejection sensitivity and social anxiety, so an examination of coping strategies is important. Rejection sensitivity and social anxiety are undoubtedly parts of human psychology. Some types of behaviors, such as avoiding performing in groups and withdrawal due to rejection sensitivity, may indicate that students have coping difficulties with social situations. Therefore, this study aims to examine the improvement of coping strategies and their effect on reducing rejection sensitivity and social anxiety. The study will also determine the differences between the two coping strategies in college students. Participants in this study consisted of 60 students aged 19–22 years from the King Faisal University College of Education. The experimental group of 20 students, who showed higher levels of rejection sensitivity and social anxiety, responded to the coping strategies scale, rejection sensitivity scale, and social anxiety scale for college students. This study used a t-test and the Mann Whitney test to determine the differences between pre- and post-test results. We applied a counseling program which consisted of 16 sessions focused on improving productive coping strategies in the areas of cognitive restriction, expressing emotions, social support, and reducing nonproductive coping strategies such as wishful thinking, self-criticism, and social withdrawal. The results showed statistically significant differences in coping strategies between pre- and post-test scores in the experimental group in favor of the posttest. In addition, there are significant differences in rejection sensitivity and social anxiety between pre- and posttest results in favor of the post-test. Our findings highlight the importance of productive coping strategies in reducing rejection sensitivity and social anxiety in the sample. The findings of this study can contribute to the improvement of college counseling programs involving coping strategies. In summary, the findings suggest that high levels of productive coping strategies can contribute to the reduction of rejection sensitivity and social anxiety, especially in adolescents.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of perceived parenting attitudes with regards to rejection sensitivity towards pre-service early childhood teachers and to investigate whether social anxiety mediates the effect of said perceived parenting attitudes concerning rejection sensitivity. For this purpose, 254 questionnaires were utilized to conduct analysis on the pre-service early childhood teachers enrolled in the departments of early childhood education and childcare at community colleges located in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Incheon using 254 questionnaires. The results of this study are as follows. First, it was found that among the parenting attitudes perceived by the pre-service early childhood teachers, affectionate parenting attitude, rejective parenting attitude, and overprotective parenting attitude, all affect rejection sensitivity. Second, as a result of examining the mediating effects of social anxiety over the effects of the parenting attitudes perceived by the pre-service early childhood teachers on rejection sensitivity, it was found that social anxiety completely mediates the effect of the affectionate parenting attitude in regards to rejection sensitivity among the three parenting attitudes. From these research results, it can be seen that the negative parenting attitude of parents increases the social anxiety of their children, and the increased social anxiety increases rejection sensitivity. Through this, it was found that the importance of parenting attitudes and social anxiety are major variables that can lower rejection sensitivity of the pre-service early childhood teachers. Therefore, it is possible to lower both the social anxiety and rejection sensitivity of children by parents raising their children with desirable attitudes, and to lower rejection sensitivity by lowering the social anxiety of the pre-service early childhood teachers, so that the early childhood pre-service teachers can support them to establish a smooth relationship with infants.

Objectives The purpose of this study is to identify the variables that influence SNS addiction tendency among college students. To this end, we established a model in which rejection sensitivity mediates experience avoidance and social anxiety in the path to SNS addiction tendency, and checked the model's fit and the relevance of each variable. Methods For the study, These data were collected from 182 students going to four-year universities in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Chungnam, and frequency analysis and correlation analysis were conducted using SPSS 22.0 to estimate the relationship between variables, and Process Macro Model 6 was used to examine the dual mediation effect. Results The main findings of this study are as follows. First, rejection sensitivity, experience avoidance, social anxiety, and SNS addiction tendencies of male and female college students all showed significant relationships. Second, rejection sensitivity did not directly affect SNS addiction tendencies of both male and female college students, but it affected experience avoidance. Third, for both male and female college students, rejection sensitivity did not have a direct effect on SNS addiction tendency, but it had a significant effect on social anxiety, and experience avoidance also had a significant effect on social anxiety. Fourth, the sequential mediation effects of experience avoidance and social anxiety were found significant in the relationship between rejection sensitivity and SNS addiction tendency for female students, but not for male students. Conclusions This study found the higher rejection sensitive is, the higher SNS addiction tendency is, and the relationship between the two variables can be explained by experience avoidance and social anxiety. In addition, the mediating effect of social anxiety in the relationship between rejection sensitivity and SNS addiction tendency shows gender differences between male and female college students, suggesting that different treatment plans and counseling interventions according to gender are needed to treat SNS addiction tendency.

Objectives This study was conducted to examine the sequential mediating effects of social anxiety and self-compassion in the relationship between rejection sensitivity and interpersonal problems among university students. Methods To verify this, a standardized questionnaire consisting of four measurement tools appropriate for the research questions was developed. A survey was conducted among 300 male and female university students from the first to fourth year at a four-year university in the S area. After excluding 37 responses due to insincere answers, data from a total of 263 participants were used for analysis. Results The findings of the analysis were as follows. First, significant correlations were found among rejection sensitivity, social anxiety, self-compassion, and interpersonal problems. Second, social anxiety and self-compassion were found to partially mediate the relationship between rejection sensitivity and interpersonal problems. Third, rejection sensitivity indirectly influenced interpersonal problems through the sequential mediation of social anxiety and self-compassion. Conclusions Based on these research findings, this study aimed to examine the impact of rejection sensitivity on interpersonal problems and provide information on alleviating such issues by focusing on social anxiety and self-compassion. The goal and significance of this study lie in exploring effective intervention methods in counseling settings to support clients experiencing interpersonal difficulties. Furthermore, the study discusses its limitations and suggests directions for future research.

Academic self-efficacy is an important determinant of academic success which could be affected by many factors both psychological and social. The present research was conducted to highlight the role of academic self-efficacy and social anxiety which could affect the academic performance of the students. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between academic self-efficacy, social anxiety and academic success with the hypothesis that academic self-efficacy positively and social anxiety inversely related and predicted academic success. Researchers choose to study the topic with a cross-sectional research design. Through the survey method, a convenient sample of 250 undergraduate students in the age range of 18 to 24 (M=21.35, SD=1.54) was obtained. Educational Self-Efficacy Scale for academic self-efficacy, Social Interaction Anxiety scale for measuring social anxiety and CGPA for academic success, along with a demographic sheet were used to collect data. Pearson product-moment correlation results indicated that academic self-efficacy has a statistically significant positive association with academic success (r=.367, n=250, p=.05) and has an inverse relationship with social anxiety(r=-.463, n=250, p=.01). Likewise, social anxiety shares a significant, inverse relationship with academic success (r=-.389, n= 250, p=.05). Moreover, Academic self-efficacy positively (β= .472, p< .001) and social anxiety inversely predicted academic success (β= -.431, p< .001). For improving academic performance, the focus of students, educators, counsellors and parents must be on improving academic self-efficacy and managing psychological issues like social anxiety as per the implications of the present research.

BackgroundEmotion regulation, the process by which individuals manage and modify their emotional experiences, expressions, and responses to adaptively navigate and cope with various situations, plays a crucial role in daily life. Our study investigates the variations in emotion regulation strategies among individuals with different attachment styles (AS). Specifically, we examine how individuals with secure, anxious, avoidant, and fearful attachment styles effectively utilize cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression to regulate their emotions.MethodsA total of n = 98 adults were instructed to attend, reappraise, or suppress their emotions while viewing negative and neutral images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) in an experimental emotion regulation task. After completing the task, participants rated the valence and arousal elicited by the images. Attachment styles were measured using the ECR-12 questionnaire and then categorized into four AS.ResultsOur study revealed that individuals with secure AS (n = 39) effectively reduced displeasure through cognitive reappraisal but experienced levels of displeasure with expressive suppression. Anxious AS (n = 16) individuals successfully reduced displeasure using cognitive reappraisal but struggled to regulate arousal and effectively use expressive suppression. Avoidant AS (n = 24) individuals could reduce displeasure with both strategies but experienced high arousal during suppression attempts. Fearful AS (n = 19) individuals effectively regulated both displeasure and arousal using either strategy. However, Secure AS individuals showed superior reappraisal efficacy, significantly reducing arousal levels compared to the Fearful AS group. Both Secure and Avoidant AS groups experienced higher valence during reappraisal relative to a baseline, indicating a decrease in displeasure.ConclusionsIndividuals with different AS exhibit variations in the effectiveness of their use of emotion regulation strategies. Our findings reinforce the significance of AS in shaping emotion regulation processes and emphasize the need for tailored approaches to support individuals with different attachment orientations.

Rejection sensitivity is defined as the tendency to 'anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to rejection' (Downey, Feldman, Khuri, & Friedman, 1994, p. 496). It has been conceptualised as a cognitive-affective processing disposition that undermines adaptive functioning. The overall aim of the current research was to explore the rejection sensitivity dynamic and investigate its association with maladaptive intrapersonal and interpersonal outcomes. To address this aim, four studies, each of which used a cross-sectional design, were undertaken. Study one explored the relationship between rejection sensitivity and depressive symptoms, and specifically sought to examine the role of social anxiety and loneliness within this relationship. One hundred and ninety five participants completed questionnaires assessing rejection sensitivity, depression, loneliness, and social anxiety. Consistent with predictions, the results indicated that rejection sensitivity was related to depressive symptoms. The experience of loneliness and social anxiety was found to further explicate this relationship. The second study investigated how rejection sensitive individuals think about and relate to others. Two hundred and five participants were required to complete questionnaires assessing rejection sensitivity, adult attachment styles, and the personality dispositions of sociotropy and autonomy. It was found that rejection sensitivity was most closely associated with an anxious attachment style and intimacy seeking coping strategies within close relationships.

Abstract. Background: This research examined fear of intimacy during emerging adulthood. We attempted to determine whether rejection sensitivity has any effect on fear of intimacy through the mediational effect of interpersonal anxiety. We also assumed that remembered parental acceptance can have a buffering effect on the above relationships. Methods: The sample was composed of 679 (280 male and 399 female) university students. Data collection was accomplished through the use of self-report questionnaires, which measured rejection sensitivity, fear of intimacy, interpersonal anxiety, and remembered parental acceptance. Analyses of mediation and moderation effects variables were conducted through the use of the PROCESS statistical software. Results: Analysis showed that there is a partial meditational effect of interpersonal anxiety on the relationship of rejection sensitivity to fear of intimacy. Further, remembered maternal acceptance had a protective effect on the development of fear of intimacy in young women who are sensitive to rejection and have high interpersonal anxiety. Discussion: Rejection sensitivity seems to have an effect on the development of fear of intimacy through increasing interpersonal anxiety, especially in females. These relationships seem to be moderated by maternal acceptance. Conclusion: Student counselling would be beneficial to help students in this transitional period become aware of anxious interpersonal patterns and regulate their reactivity when facing perceived rejection cues in their interpersonal relationships.