Biopsychosocial responses to social rejection in targets of relational aggression
Section snippets
Recruitment
Participants were recruited from a pool of 184 male and female participants who completed a larger study (wave one). The purpose of the wave one study was to assess level of relational victimization grouping status (i.e., high or low history of relational victimization) for the current study (wave two). In order to minimize the likelihood that participants identified this goal, participants also completed a series of questionnaires that measured relationship quality and social competence. This
Social information processing, relational victimization, and cortisol reactivity
For the low victimization group, social information processing was positively correlated with post-stressor cortisol levels, r = .83, p < .01 but not with baseline cortisol levels, r = .13, p = .66. Social information processing was positively associated with cortisol reactivity,2 r = . 63, p = .02. There were no statistically significant correlations between cortisol levels and social information processing for the
Discussion
This study found some support for the tend-befriend model (Taylor et al., 2000, Taylor, 2006) as indicated by biological reactivity as well as distinct psychological responses to social exclusion in women. This biobehavioral response was influenced by history of relational victimization; low victimization tended to be associated with unique psychological response whereas high victimization predicted neuroendocrine reactivity to peer rejection.
Although the main goal of the study was to examine
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Stephanie Cammarata, Brittany Handy, Maia Uli, and Irene Rico for their assistance on the administration of this study. This study was supported by a 2006–2007 University of San Diego Faculty Research Grant awarded to the study author.
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