(PS9-B42) Do Attempts to Avoid Rejection Lead to More Rejection? An Experience-sampling Investigation of Momentary Rejection Experiences

Rejection is an aversive experience that can impact physical and mental health (e.g., depression). Humans are generally motivated to avoid rejection and maintain their social standing. However, as best illustrated by anxiety disorder research, attempts to avoid feared outcomes can paradoxically increase the likelihood of the feared outcome occurring. When people attempt to avoid rejection, they may use social behaviors that elicit negative responses from others (e.g., restricted emotional expression), in turn leading to rejection (Romero-Canyas et al., 2010). 

People with social anxiety and depression may be at increased risk of experiencing rejection because they excessively try to avoid it (Perini et al., 2006). Longitudinal designs can help characterize how rejection avoidance predicts rejection. In this 28-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study, we examined how attempts to avoid rejection predicted feelings of rejection and how this relationship varied as a function of participants’ social anxiety and depression symptoms.

Participants were community adults (N=96; Mage= 36 years) who completed diagnostic interviews to assess DSM-5 psychiatric disorders. The diagnostic breakdown is as follows: 32 (33.3%) participants with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and major depressive disorder (MDD); 18 (18.8%) with SAD; 14 (14.6%) with MDD; 32 (33.3%) with neither disorder. Levels of social anxiety and depression symptoms were reported during the baseline assessment. Five times per day, participants reported how much they were attempting to avoid rejection and how rejected they felt. Multilevel modeling was used to accommodate hierarchical data (i.e., prompts nested within days nested within persons).

Participants with higher baseline social anxiety and depression symptoms tried to avoid rejection more and felt more rejected across the study duration than participants with lower social anxiety and depression symptoms (ps< .001). The more participants tried to avoid rejection, the more rejected they felt (b=.31, t=35.24, p< .001). This relationship varied as a function of participants’ social anxiety (b=–.06, t=–6.03, p< .001) and depression (b=–.05, t=–6.45, p< .001) symptoms, such that the relationship was slightly weaker for participants with higher social anxiety and depression symptoms. We also found that the more participants tried to avoid rejection, the more rejected they felt at the next prompt (b=.04, t=6.05, p< .001); this relationship did not vary as a function of participants’ level of social anxiety and depression symptoms. 
Our findings suggest that people with social anxiety and depression exert considerable effort into avoiding rejection. However, these avoidance efforts may backfire and increase risk for experiencing rejection. Thus, an avoidance orientation might perpetuate a cycle of social distress. More generally, our findings add further support for the rejection sensitivity model (Downey & Feldman, 1996), in which rejection avoidance generates social distress and elicits rejection.