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Peer rejection negatively affects subsequent academic motivation regardless of gender context of the rejection

Lenka Kollerová, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague; Tracy M. Sweet, University of Maryland; Jung-Jung Lee, University of Maryland; Lisa Bardach, University of Tübingen; Melanie Killen, University of Maryland

Peer rejection, understood as to being disliked by classmates, belongs to key interpersonal stressors that may corroborate school adjustment. Investigating negative effects of peer rejection on school adjustment is particularly important in early adolescence, because this developmental period is characterized by growing importance of peer relations and heightened school adjustment problems. So far, little is known about whether peer rejection predicts subsequent motivational and emotional school adjustment in early adolescents and whether the effects differ in various gender contexts, i.e. for rejected boys and girls and for same- and cross-gender peer rejection. Based on the developmental intergroup perspective, the present study tested effects of peer rejection on less investigated facets of motivational and emotional school adjustment (academic motivation, school attachment, and feelings of safety) and examined whether the effects differed by gender contexts. Self-report and peer nomination data were retrieved from early adolescents (N 910; Time 1 Mage 12.9 years) at two time points within a single school year (6 month apart) and were analyzed using multilevel modeling. The results showed that peer rejection was negatively associated with subsequent academic motivation and this effect was the same across different gender contexts, i.e. for rejected boys and rejected girls as well as for same- and cross-gender rejection. No significant longitudinal effects were found for school attachment and feelings of safety. The findings will help to target prevention and intervention efforts at academic motivation that could be undermined by peer rejection.

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