Predicting friendship quality with rejection sensitivity and attachment security

Abstract

We examined the interplay between friends’ rejection sensitivity (RS) and attachment security in predicting friendship quality. Three competing hypotheses were tested concerning friendship quality, the unique effects of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and RS, as well as the moderating and mediating effects of RS. Results from emerging adults in Turkey ( N = 407) revealed that unlike attachment anxiety and avoidance, RS had neither a unique nor a mediated effect on friendship quality. However, RS moderated the effect of attachment avoidance on friendship quality. These findings’ implications are discussed considering the role of RS in the link between attachment security and friendship quality.