Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Center for Developmental Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.
J Youth Adolesc. 2021 Nov;50(11):2123-2135. doi: 10.1007/s10964-021-01457-5. Epub 2021 Jun 3.
Integration into formal and informal peer groups is a key developmental task during early adolescence. As youth begin to place greater value on attaining acceptance and popularity among peers, social status among one's peer group becomes an important marker of social functioning during this developmental period. Whereas much empirical research has been devoted to understanding heterogeneity among youth holding high status positions, similar distinctions have largely not been examined among socially marginalized youth. The present study sought to address this gap in the research by examining the extent to which two aspects of social marginalization, peer rejection and social network isolation, were differentially associated with trajectories of social and behavioral adjustment across two school years in early adolescence. Peer nominations were used to assess rejection, isolation, and the behavioral outcomes of interest (i.e., aggression, internalizing behaviors, and victimization), and participants self-reported the extent to which peers would come to their aid in bullying situations (i.e., peer protection from bullying). Using a longitudinal sample of early adolescents (n = 1075; 53.0% female; 47.2% White; 27.1% African American; 12.7% Hispanic) in grades 5 through 7, preliminary analyses revealed little overlap between rejection and isolation at each time point. Moreover, a series of multilevel models revealed that rejection and isolation were associated with somewhat distinct behavioral and social adjustment trajectories. Peer rejection was positively associated with peer-nominated aggression, both within and across time points, and negatively associated with prosocial behaviors. Conversely, isolation was positively associated with peer-nominated internalizing behaviors, both within and across time points. Rejection and isolation were each positively associated with peer nominations of victimization; however, only isolation was related to lower perceptions of peer protection from bullying. In general, support was found for assessing rejection and isolation as two distinct forms of social marginalization in early adolescence.
融入正式和非正式的同伴群体是青少年早期的一项关键发展任务。随着年轻人开始更加重视在同龄人中获得认可和受欢迎程度，他们在同伴群体中的社会地位成为这一发展时期社会功能的重要标志。虽然大量的实证研究致力于理解拥有高地位的年轻人之间的异质性，但在社会边缘的年轻人中，类似的区别在很大程度上没有得到研究。本研究试图通过考察同伴拒绝和社交网络隔离两个方面在多大程度上与青少年早期两个学年的社会和行为调整轨迹不同相关来解决研究中的这一差距。同伴提名被用来评估拒绝、隔离和感兴趣的行为结果（即攻击、内化行为和受害），参与者自我报告在欺凌情况下同伴会在多大程度上帮助他们（即同伴免受欺凌的保护）。使用青少年早期（n=1075；53.0%女性；47.2%白人；27.1%非裔美国人；12.7%西班牙裔）的纵向样本，在 5 至 7 年级，初步分析表明，在每个时间点，拒绝和隔离之间几乎没有重叠。此外，一系列多层次模型表明，拒绝和隔离与行为和社会调整轨迹略有不同。同伴拒绝与同伴提名的攻击呈正相关，无论是在同一时间点还是跨时间点，并且与亲社会行为呈负相关。相反，隔离与同伴提名的内化行为呈正相关，无论是在同一时间点还是跨时间点。拒绝和隔离都与同伴提名的受害呈正相关；然而，只有隔离与对欺凌时同伴保护的感知较低有关。总的来说，支持将拒绝和隔离评估为青少年早期两种不同形式的社会边缘化。
