Implications of rejection sensitivity for intimate relationships.
People who are sensitive to social rejection tend to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to it. This article shows that this cognitive-affective processing disposition undermines intimate relationships. Study 1 describes a measure that operationalizes the anxious-expectations component of rejection sensitivity. Study 2 provides experimental evidence that people who anxiously expect rejection readily perceive intentional rejection in the ambiguous behavior of others. Study 3 shows that people who enter romantic relationships with anxious expectations of rejection readily perceive intentional rejection in the insensitive behavior of their new partners. Study 4 demonstrates that rejection-sensitive people and their romantic partners are dissatisfied with their relationships. Rejection-sensitive men's jealousy and rejection-sensitive women's hostility and diminished supportiveness help explain their partners' dissatisfaction.
Downey
G
G
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York 10027, USA. gdowney@paradox.psych.columbia.edu
Feldman
S I
SI
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D012944:Social Support