Sensitivity to status-based rejection: implications for African American students' college experience.
The authors proposed a process model whereby experiences of rejection based on membership in a devalued group can lead people to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to status-based rejection. To test the model, the authors focused on race-based rejection sensitivity (RS-race) among African Americans. Following the development and validation of the RS-Race Questionnaire (Studies 1 and 2), the authors tested the utility of the model for understanding African American students' experiences at a predominantly White university (Study 3). Students high in RS-race experienced greater discomfort during the college transition, less trust in the university, and relative declines in grades over a 2- to 3-year period. Positive race-related experiences, however, increased feelings of belonging at the institution among students high in RS-race.
Mendoza-Denton
Rodolfo
R
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA. rmd@socrates.berkeley.edu
Downey
Geraldine
G
Purdie
Valerie J
VJ
Davis
Angelina
A
Pietrzak
Janina
J
D000124:Achievement; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011287:Prejudice; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States