Emotional sensitivity before and after coping with rejection: A longitudinal study

a r t i c l e i n f o Transactional associations of emotional sensitivity and coping with peer rejection were tested, whereby coping was expected to be a manifestation of sensitivity but also a player in the development of sensitivity. Early adolescents (N = 711, grades 5–7) completed three repeated questionnaires over 14 months. Using structural equation modeling, emotional sensitivity was indicated by depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and rejection sensitivity. Transactional associations between sensitivity and coping were found, with adolescents higher in baseline sensitivity reporting more social avoidance and rumination over time and, conversely, adolescents higher in avoidance and rumination increasing in sensitivity over time. Participants' histories of peer victimization and exclusion were associated with greater emotional sensitivity and more use of most coping responses, but did not have temporal associations with sensitivity or coping and were not a moderator of associations. Sex differences in sensitivity and coping were found, but there was no moderation by participant sex. Coping responses can be overt manifestations of cognitive–emotion-al beliefs and biases linked with preexisting emotional problems, as much as they may be direct players in the development of emotional adjustment or maladjustment. When children make the transition to adolescence with emotional adjustment problems in place, these prior emotional sensitivities then prompt ways of coping with peer rejection (or other interpersonal stress) that are maladaptive, which can add to their emotional sensitivity and vulnerability over time & Graber, 2010). Thus, coping responses account for changes in symptoms over time, but existing emotional sensitivity also constrains or prompts certain coping responses. For example, adolescents who respond to peer rejection or victimization by becoming helpless or ruminating (i.e., being passive rather than active) have been found to report elevated symptoms and increasing symptoms of mental health Conversely , when elevated depressive symptoms or other emotional sensitivities are in place, adolescents report less use of adaptive coping strategies, such as behavioral distraction, positive reappraisal, and action that is focused on changing the problem situation (Reijntjes, Stegge, & Terwogt, 2006). Taken together, these findings suggest that there are interrelations among emotional sensitivity and adolescents' coping responses to peer rejection over time. Yet, there have been very few investigations of transactional associations. Some investigations have focused on the coping strategies children and adolescents rely on when faced with peer rejection, but they have not examined how adjustment influences for exceptions). Still other studies have examined …