3-011 - Peer Adversity and Adolescent Social Motivation: New Perspectives, Cross-Cultural Evidence

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Peer adversities like rejection, loneliness, and peer provocation negatively affect social-emotional adjustment, especially during adolescence when peer interactions are critical for well-being. For instance, loneliness is linked to social withdrawal, peer provocation to aggression, and peer rejection to both withdrawn and aggressive behaviors. However, less is known about why youth display certain behaviors following peer difficulties. The social information processing theory suggests social goals and motives following interpersonal difficulties such as rejection may explain variation in subsequent behaviors and social-emotional adjustment. The present three studies extend research by examining peer adversities in relation to adolescent social motivation in a rich theoretical, methodological and cultural framework, including longitudinal and trait- as well as state-assessments, across seven samples from four countries in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Paper 1 examines trajectories and associations of loneliness with motivation to connect in the context of ambiguous and clear social invitations in a cross-sectional and a 4-year longitudinal study in Belgium. Paper 2 examines cross-sectional and longitudinal associations among interpersonal rejection and agentic (status, power) and communal (closeness) social goals, and the moderating role of narcissism in these in the United States and Finland. Paper 3 examines cognitive interpretations and subsequent revenge goals (and aggression) following provocation in two studies in the United States and Pakistan, suggesting important cultural differences in these associations. The symposium will conclude with remarks from a senior peer relations scholar.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chair

• Danielle Findley-Van Nostrand, University of South Florida

Discussant

• Mitchell J Prinstein, Univ of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Individual Presentations

• Lonely Adolescents’ Interpretation of and Motivation for Social Events - Presenting Author: Janne Vanhalst, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Bart Soenens, University of Ghent; Koen Luyckx, Catholic University of Louvain; Stijn Van Petegem, Ghent University

• Perceived Rejection Predicts Changes in Social Goals: Direct and Interactive Links with Narcissism during Adolescence - Presenting Author: Danielle Findley-Van Nostrand, University of South Florida; Tiina Ojanen, University of South Florida

• A Cross-Cultural Examination of Interpretations and Revenge Goals in Response to Peer Provocation - Presenting Author: Kristina L McDonald, University of Alabama; Salma Siddiqui, 617 128th Ave SE; Sidra Afzal, University of Management and Technology (Pakistan); Summira Aslam, Pakistan; Naeema Sarfraz, Oasis School for Autism