1. Links Between Adolescent Social Acceptance, Rejection, and Early Adult Problem Behaviors
Morgan M. Welch & David E. Szwedo
James Madison University
Morgan Welch
Alcohol Consumption (age 22) Assessed using the Alcohol and Drug Questionnaire, specifically the alcohol subscales, a self-report measure asking about experiences with alcohol in the past year.
Drinking Motives (age 22) Assessed using the Drinking Motives Questionnaire, a 20-item measure of adult drinking motives.
Introduction
Coping motives for drinking predicted more frequent alcohol-influenced risky sexual behaviors and consequences in those with social anxiety (Terlecki, Richter, Neighbors, Young, & Buckner, 2017).
Popularity, whether based on self-perceptions or peer friendship nominations, is a risk factor for substance use during adolescence (Tucker et al., 2011).
Social acceptance is likely to act as buffer against fear of negative evaluations by peers, while those who perceive themselves as less socially accepted are more likely to have high levels of social anxiety (Festa & Ginsburg, 2011).
Social anxiety can lead to alcohol abuse (Buckner & Schmidt, 2009) and negative sexual experiences due to fear of intimacy (Kashdan et al., 2011).
The purpose of this study is to investigate how acceptance and rejection in adolescence predicts adult alcohol abuse and risky sexual behaviors, and the potential moderating role of social anxiety.
Results
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Being liked in adolescence
Social anxiety in new situations
Alcohol Use
Fear of negative evaluation
Social Motives for Drinking
Enhancement Motives for Drinking
Nonconsensual sex
Using protection
Having sex with someone you don’t know
Figure 1. Those who are highly disliked and also have high anxiety in new situations drink alcohol the most.
Figure 2. Those who are highly liked and have high anxiety in new situations drink alcohol most frequently.
Figure 3. Those who are highly disliked and have high anxiety in new situations have the highest social motives for drinking.
Figure 3.
Hypotheses
Figure illustrating regression equations predicting alcohol and sexual experience outcomes from social acceptance and social anxiety. Lines indicate significant associations between variables (β= ).
Adolescents who experience high levels acceptance or rejection from their peers will be more likely to engage in alcohol abuse and risky sexual behaviors in adulthood. Moreover, these behaviors may be mediated or moderated by the individuals level of social anxiety.
Regression analyses examined peer acceptance and rejection in adolescence and social anxiety as predictors of adult alcohol abuse and risky sexual behaviors.
Analyses found that being liked in adolescence predicts more frequent alcohol use, as well as social and enhancement motives for drinking.
Analyses also found that being liked in adolescence also predicted risky sexual behaviors, such as having sex with someone you don’t know and engaging in nonconsensual sex.
Being liked in adolescence predicted greater condom use.
Correlations between primary variables are presented in Table 1 below.
Figure 4.
Figure 5.
Method
Figure 4. Those who are highly liked and have high fear of negative evaluation are more likely to engage in nonconsensual sex.
Figure 5. Those who are less disliked and have a high fear of negative engage in nonconsensual sex the most, while those who are highly disliked and have a high fear of negative evaluation are the least likely to engage in this behavior.
Figure 6. Those who are less liked and have high fear of negative evaluation are more likely to have sex with someone they don’t know than those who don’t have anxiety.
Participants
Full sample from larger study: N = 184
Gender Race/ethnicity Income
86 males Caucasian Median = $40,000 - $59,000
98 females African American
24 Mixed/Other
Figure 6.
Discussion
Table 1. Univariate statistics and inter-correlations between primary constructs
Measures
Peer Acceptance/Rejection (age 13) Assessed using the like rating subscale of the Sociometrics, a two section measure in which all students rated one another in terms of how much they like or dislike the individual.
Social Anxiety (age 19) Social anxiety in new situations and fear of negative evaluation were assessed using the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents, a 22- item self-report scale.
Sexual Experiences (age 21) Assessed using the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire, a self-report measure using yes/no questions, multiple choice items, and open-ended items.
Mean (SD) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1. Gender
47% male -
2. Income
43,618 (22,420)
-.11
3. # like rankings (13
.96 (1.35)
.04
.32***
4. Fear of negative evaluation (19)
13.55 (5.75)
.23**
.14
5. Social avoidance and distress in new situations (19)
12.59 (5.32)
.05
.13
.03
.66***
6. How often use protection (21)
.966 (1.28)
-.09
-.19*
-.21*
7. Nonconsensual sex in past year (21)
.012 (.111)
-.01
.08
.21*
.07
8. OK w/ someone you don’t know (21)
3.01 (1.41)
-.42***
.29**
.22**
-.12
-.04
9. How often drunk (22)
2.56 (4.40)
.17*
-.0007
.16
.09
-.05
.36***
10. Social drinking motives (22)
10.77 (3.77)
-.13
.26**
.24**
.19*
.02
.37***
.48***
11. Enhancement drinking motives (22)
8.64 (3.68)
-.16*
.27**
.15
.42***
.62***
.75***
Those who are well liked in adolescence may feel the need to keep the reputation of being liked and engage in frequent alcohol use to do so. They also seem to have more anxiety in new situations which may lead them to drink so they continue to be liked and accepted.
Individuals who are highly liked may feel inclined to engage in nonconsensual sex to maintain their reputation of being liked. Those who are highly disliked may engage in nonconsensual sex because they are less confident in themselves or they feel it doesn’t matter because they aren’t liked.
Social anxiety also seems to be an important predictor for these outcomes.
Note. * p ≤ .05, ** p ≤ .01, *** p ≤ .001