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Middle-School Girls' Behavioral Responses to Ostracism: How Much Does Inclusion Cost?

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Middle-School Girls' Behavioral Responses to Ostracism: How Much Does Inclusion Cost? Illinois State University ISU ReD: Research and eData Theses and Dissertations 6-26-2015 Middle-School Girls' Behavioral Responses to Ostracism: How Much Does Inclusion Cost? Ashley Leja Illinois State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Leja, Ashley, "Middle-School Girls' Behavioral Responses to Ostracism: How Much Does Inclusion Cost?" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 734. https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/734 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ISU ReD: Research and eData. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ISU ReD: Research and eData. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MIDDLE-SCHOOL GIRLS’ BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES TO OSTRACISM: HOW MUCH DOES INCLUSION COST? Ashley M. Leja 132 Pages Bullying among school-aged children is problematic in the U.S., with 22% of students aged 12-18 years reporting experiences with bullying at school (Zhang, Musu- Gillette, & Oudekerk, 2016). Whereas early bullying research focused heavily on the physical bullying common among boys, more recent studies have included examinations of bullying using relational aggression. Defined as removing or threatening to remove relationships to cause harm to another, relational aggression includes behaviors such as spreading lies, gossiping, or ignoring a peer and has been found to be more common among girls (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Cullerton-Sen & Crick, 2005; Murray-Close et al., 2007). A specialized form of relational aggression that has been relatively under investigated among adolescents involves ostracism, the excluding or ignoring of others by individuals or groups (Williams, 2009). The paucity of research on ostracism in childhood and adolescence is surprising, given that research with adults has linked ostracism to a variety of negative outcomes, including suicidal ideation or attempts, depression, and other breakdowns in psychological functioning (Saylor, Williams, Nida, McKenna, Twomey, & Macias, 2013). Further, given the importance of healthy peer relations on child and adolescent psychological functioning, studying teen responses to ostracism is of great importance. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine how adolescent girls respond to ostracism experiences in the lab. Girls’ willingness to ingratiate with those who had ostracized them was of primary interest, as previous research has failed to examine teen behavior following ostracism and how it affects teens’ potential for future relationships. While research with adults suggests that individuals may be prosocial to gain inclusion, it is unknown whether ostracized youth will attempt to ingratiate with ostracizers as a means to gain the inclusion that is crucial to teen development. As such, this was the first known study to examine how individual differences among middle school-aged girls’ social- cognitive functioning moderated their affective and behavioral responses to being ostracized. Fifth through 8th grade girls (N= 110) completed several surveys assessing individual differences, including those related to involvement as perpetrator or victim of relational and overt aggression. At least one week after completion of these surveys, girls participated in a game of Cyberball in which they were randomly assigned to be either fully or partially ostracized. Following the game, participants completed the Primary Needs Questionnaire-Children (PNQ-C; Zadro et al., 2013) to assess need threat, as well as a resource allocation task in which they had the opportunity to “buy” inclusion in a second game of Cyberball by giving cookies to the original game players or an uninvolved player. After these tasks, participants played a final game of Cyberball in which they were fully included. Results indicated that girls who were fully ostracized in the game experienced significantly more need threat than those who were partially ostracized. In addition, girls who were partially ostracized made a greater effort to ingratiate with original players compared to girls who were fully ostracized. Hypotheses regarding the moderating role of relational aggression were not supported. However, a history of involvement in overt aggression did moderate resource allocation of cookies, with more frequent engagement in these behaviors associated with greater ingratiation towards original players. In addition, girls’ feelings of threat to belonging following ostracism mediated the relationship between level of ostracism and their ingratiating behaviors. Results suggest that ostracism is harmful regardless of one’s history of involvement with aggression, indicating that school-based professionals working with teens have an obligation to identify and intervene when ostracism is occurring. Further, girls who were partially ostracized and believed they could gain inclusion in the second Cyberball game chose to ingratiate with ostracizing players to “buy” their inclusion. This finding suggests a need for adults to assist in teaching social skills and structuring healthy interactions so that youth are not exploited by more socially skilled peers. In addition, study results make an important theoretical contribution to the ostracism literature. Specifically, girls’ threat to belonging was the process through which ostracism influenced ingratiation behaviors. This mediation was previously unstudied in teens and adds support to Williams’ (2009) theory that threatened needs influence individuals’ behavior following the ostracism experience. KEYWORDS: Ostracism, Relational Aggression MIDDLE-SCHOOL GIRLS’ BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES TO OSTRACISM: HOW MUCH DOES INCLUSION COST? ASHLEY M. LEJA A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Psychology ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY 2017 Copyright 2017 Ashley M. Leja MIDDLE-SCHOOL GIRLS’ BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES TO OSTRACISM: HOW MUCH DOES INCLUSION COST? ASHLEY M. LEJA COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Steven E. Landau, Chair Eric D. Wesselmann Leandra N. Parris Amy Hurd ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to thank Dr. Steven Landau for chairing this project. His commitment to research and student success inspires me. I greatly appreciate the time he took to push me to be my best and am a better researcher because of him. In addition, Drs. Eric Wesselmann, Leandra Parris, and Amy Hurd have been wonderful committee members, and their support throughout this process has meant the world to me. Appreciation is also due to the school staff who worked with me to recruit students and find space for me to conduct the study, as well as Kelsey Atteberry and Kristine Nichols for their help with data collection. I simply could not have done this without them. My parents and brother have been an amazing support throughout my academic career. I will never express enough thanks to my family for giving me the opportunity to pursue this degree, the strength to keep going when it was difficult, and the sense of humor to know when not to take myself too seriously. I could go on for pages about the support of my friends, but you all know who you are and how you have touched my life. And to my best friend – thank you. It is truly difficult to find words strong enough to explain what your encouragement has meant to me. You have always understood what this journey has been like, and your love and belief in me throughout it has been unmatched. A.M.L. i CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i CONTENTS ii TABLES iv FIGURES v CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW 6 Bullying and Victimization 6 Physical and Verbal Bullying 7 Relational Aggression/Bullying 8 Ostracism 12 Ostracism Research with Adults 13 Partial Ostracism 23 Ostracism in Childhood and Adolescence 24 Individual Difference Variables 33 History of Victimization 34 Engagement in Aggressive Behaviors 35 Normative Beliefs about Aggression 36 Need to Belong 37 Summary 38 Research Questions and Hypotheses 39 ii Research Question 1A 40 Research Question 1B 41 Research Question 2A 43 Research Question 2B 45 III. METHOD 49 Participants 49 Measures 50 Individual Differences in Social-Cognitive Functioning 50 Participants’ Responses to Ostracism 56 Procedure 60 IV. RESULTS 63 Preliminary Analyses 63 Hypothesis Testing 69 Research Question 1A 69 Research Question 1B 70 Research Question 2A 71 Research Question 2B 73 Summary of Hypothesis Testing 75 Additional Findings 75 Mediation Involving Need Threat 75 Moderation Involving Overt Victimization and Perpetration 78 Moderation Involving Bully-Victim Status 81 V. DISCUSSION 85 Preliminary Findings 90 Major Findings 92 Summary and Implications 101 Limitations 106 REFERENCES 109 iii TABLES Table Page 1. Descriptive Statistics for the SEQ (N = 110) 52 2. Descriptive Statistics for the CSBS-S (N = 110) 54 3. Descriptive Statistics for the NOBAGS (N = 110) 55 4. Descriptive Statistics for the PNQ-C (N = 110) 58 5. Bivariate Correlations between Predictor Variables (N = 110) 67 6. Condition Predicting Cookie Distribution Individual Need Threat Analysis 77 7. Moderation of Victimization, Perpetration, and Bully-Victimization on 82 Need Threat and Ingratiation iv FIGURES Figure Page 1. Hypothesized interaction of condition by victimization history related to need threat 42 2. Hypothesized interaction of condition by history of perpetration related to need threat 43 3. Hypothesized interaction of condition by victimization history related
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