Poster #228 - Reliability and Validity of a New Self-Report Measure of Chronic Peer Rejection

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

The adolescent period is one in which peer status is of primary importance. Indeed, peer rejection in adolescence can have far-reaching effects, including neuroanatomical shifts in reward processing pathways (Blakemore & Mills, 2014). Methods used to assess peer relationships, such as sociometrics, are expensive and difficult, since they require large sample sizes, time, and cooperation from schools and districts. Thus, it is important for researchers to have an alternative method to assess this construct. Instead of using sociometrics to measure participants’ rejection history, the current study developed a self-report measure of chronic rejection. The measure contained 11 rejection-related items and 7 distractors, with two questions per item. For the first question, participants indicated how true a rejection experience was for them. The second question asked participants to indicate how long they had felt this way. The two items were multiplied together to create a score for the chronicity of peer rejection. Conceptualization and item generation were guided in part by Harter’s (Neeman & Harter, 1986; 2012) self-perception inventory, but the time dimension was novel. Additionally, the focus of the measure was how much rejection people have experienced, rather than how they feel about their rejection experiences.
To validate the Chronic Rejection Measure (CRM), 500 college students completed the CRM along with the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck etal., 1961), a self-report measure of aggression (Little etal., 2003), Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (Inderbitzen-Nolan & Walters, 2000), Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (Downey etal., 1998), Harter Self-Perception Profile (Neemann & Harter, 1986, 2012), and the Big Five Personality Inventory (John & Srivastava, 1999). The order of presentation was randomized.
A factor analysis of the CRM found that items loaded on one single factor and were highly correlated. The items created a highly reliable scale (αs > .91). Further, the CRM correlated in expected ways with the other measures (see Table 1). Results suggest the measure may be particularly helpful in future peer relationship studies because this self-report measure may be more feasible than conducting sociometrics with large groups. Additionally, the CRM measures the subjective experience of rejection and how long youth have felt this way, which may be more related to adjustment than peer reports of rejection. Discussion will focus on both assets and disadvantages of using a self-report measure of peer rejection experiences.

Authors

• Carolyn E. Gibson, Drury University
  Presenting Author

• Kristina McDonald, University of Alabama
  Non-Presenting Author