Poster #84 - Construction and Validation of Children’s Peer Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire

• In Event: Poster Session 15

Abstract

Most research to date has focused on rejection sensitivity in general, but little attention has been given to specified contexts such as peer relations. Peer rejection sensitivity is the tendency to expect rejection, feel anxious, angry, and depressed in anticipation of being rejected, and misinterpret the reactions of others in peer contexts. Rejection sensitivity is a situation-specific concept, and some children can simultaneously feel social acceptance or rejection in different types of relationships (Levy et al., 2001). Although it is important to focus on rejection sensitivity in specified contexts such as peer relations, there is no existing scale that directly measures peer rejection sensitivity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and validate a self-report measure that specifically assesses children’s rejection sensitivity in peer relationships. Participants were 5th and 6th grade students in elementary school in South Korea. Phase 1 utilized a review of literature, in-depth interviews with five children, and expert panel reviews with the Delphi technique to formulate preliminary items. In Phase 2, a total of 389 children (sample 1; 46% boys) responded to the 43 preliminary items designed to assess children’s rejection sensitivity in peer context. Items were evaluated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In Phase 3, another sample of 166 children (sample 2; 49% boys) participated and assessed peer rejection sensitivity described in Phase 2, rejection sensitivity (CRSQ: Children Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire; Downey et al., 1998) and insecure friendship attachment (Adolescent Friendship Attachment Scale; Wilkinson, 2006). The CRSQ has three dimensions including rejection expectation, rejection anxiety, and rejection anger. Insecure friendship attachment was evaluated by two factors including anxious/ambivalent and avoidant attachment. In exploratory factor analyses with sample 1, we selected 27 items with four factors for the Children’s Peer Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (PRSQ). The four factors accounted for 57.8% of the variance. The first factor, Anger/Depression, assesses the tendency to feel anger or depression when expecting rejection in peer relations. The second factor, Rejection Expectation, assesses the tendency to expect rejection in peer interactions. The third factor, Anxiety/Withdrawal, measures the tendency to feel anxious or withdrawn for being rejected for their fault or mistake in peer relationships. The fourth factor, Interpretation Bias, assess misinterpretation and overreaction to the peers’ reactions in group contexts. The four subscales were moderately correlated to each other, ranging from .43 to .62. A confirmatory factor analysis with sample 2 indicated that the four-factor model was acceptable (χ2 /df = 1.782, CFI = .903, TLI = .892, RMSEA = .069, SRMR = .072). The total score of PRSQ was positively correlated with rejection sensitivity scores of CRSQ (r = .48-.73) and anxious/ambivalent friendship attachment of AFAS (r = .72), which supported the construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of PRSQ were .77 to .93 and split-half reliability coefficients were .77 to .94, indicating adequate internal consistency. These results indicate that the PRSQ is a valid and reliable scale to assess the level of peer rejection sensitivity.

Authors

• Jung Won Choi, Korea University
  Presenting Author

• Jungha Lim, Korea University