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Implications of rejection sensitivity for intimate relationships

Downey, Geraldine, Feldman, Scott I.·1996·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Abstract

People who are sensitive to social rejection tend to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to it. This article shows that this cognitive-affective processing disposition undermines intimate relationships. Study 1 describes a measure that operationalizes the anxious-expectations component of rejection sensitivity.

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Gardner, A. A., Zimmer‐Gembeck, M. J., & Modecki, K. L. (2020) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/jopy.12549 · Cited by 36
Drinking to regulate negative romantic relationship interactions: The moderating role of self-esteem
DeHart, T., Tennen, H. A., Armeli, S., Todd, M. W., & Affleck, G. G. (2007) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2007.10.001 · Cited by 35
Social Rejection Biases Estimates of Interpersonal Distance
Knowles, M. L., Green, A., & Weidel, A. (2013) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550613491972 · Cited by 42
“For instance, individuals high in social anxiety (Zadro, Boland, & Richardson, 2006) and rejection sensitivity (Downey & Feldman, 1996) might be less likely to underestimate distance to benign social targets if they are misconstrued as threatening.”
Background
Group belongingness and collective action: Effects of need to belong and rejection sensitivity on willingness to participate in protest activities
Bäck, E., Bäck, H., & Knapton, H. (2015) · Scandinavian Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/sjop.12225 · Cited by 41
“Rejection sensitive individuals learn to expect rejection through socialization and are motivated to avoid possible future rejection (Downey & Feldman, 1996), for instance by conforming to social groups that they belong to.”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Algorithm‐based modular psychotherapy vs. cognitive‐behavioral therapy for patients with depression, psychiatric comorbidities and early trauma: a proof‐of‐concept randomized controlled trial
Schramm, E., Elsaesser, M., Jenkner, C., Hautzinger, M., & Herpertz, S. C. (2024) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.21204 · Cited by 34
“Further secondary outcomes comprised: a) self-rated depressive and anxiety symptoms, as assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) 39 and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) 40 ; b) improvements in the early trauma-related mechanisms of social threat response, hyperarousal, and social processes/empathy, as ass…”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Loneliness in Personality Disorders
Reinhard, M. A., Nenov-Matt, T., & Padberg, F. (2022) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-022-01368-7 · Cited by 45
It will (never) stop hurting: Do repeated or chronic experiences of exclusion lead to hyper- or hyposensitive psychological responses?
Büttner, C. M., Jauch, M., Marinucci, M., Williams, K. D., Greifeneder, R., Riva, P., & Rudert, S. C. (2023) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/13684302221140002 · Cited by 39
“…effect of chronic exclusion shows only in people with high rejection sensitivity, high fear of social pain, high hurt proneness, or with few social connections, respectively (e.g., Downey & Feldman, 1996; Leary & Springer, 2001; Marinucci & Riva, 2021a; Riva, Williams et al., 2014).”
BackgroundInfluential
Abgelehnt, ausgeschlossen, ignoriert: Die Wahrnehmung sozialer Zurückweisung und psychische Störungen – eine Übersicht
Rosenbach, C., & Renneberg, B. (2011) · Verhaltenstherapie · doi:10.1159/000328839 · Cited by 34
Need for power and affective response to negative audience reaction to an extemporaneous speech
Fodor, E. M., & Wick, D. P. (2009) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2009.06.007 · Cited by 34
Preserving Face in Refusal Situations
BESSON, A. L., Roloff, M. E., & Paulson, G. D. (1998) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365098025002003 · Cited by 34
Facial Emotion Recognition and Social-Cognitive Correlates of Narcissistic Features
De Panfilis, C., Antonucci, C., Meehan, K. B., Cain, N. M., Soliani, A., Marchesi, C., Clarkin, J. F., & Sambataro, F. (2019) · Journal of Personality Disorders · doi:10.1521/pedi_2018_32_350 · Cited by 34
Putting oneself in someone's shoes: The effect of observing ostracism on physical pain, social pain, negative emotion, and self-regulation
Poon, K., Jiang, Y., & Teng, F. (2020) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110217 · Cited by 37
Self-silencing Mediates the Relationship Between Rejection Sensitivity and Intimate Partner Violence
Inman, E. M., & London, B. E. (2021) · Journal of Interpersonal Violence · doi:10.1177/0886260521997948 · Cited by 34
“Rejection sensitivity was measured using the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ; Downey & Feldman, 1996) which contains eight potential rejection scenarios (e.g., “Imagine you call your partner after a bitter argument and tell them you want to see them”).”
BackgroundMethod
Interpersonal Sensitivity, Romantic Stress, and the Prediction of Depression: A Study of Inner-City, Minority Adolescent Girls
Rizzo, C. J., Daley, S. E., & Gunderson, B. H. (2006) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-006-9047-4 · Cited by 35
“Likewise, rejection sensitivity ( Downey and Feldman, 1996 ), which represents the degree to which an individual expects, perceives, and reacts to interpersonal rejection, has been found to be associated with depression following a partner initiated break-up (Ayudek et al., 2001).”
Background
A goal-discrepancy account of restorative nature experiences
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The Dual Pathways Hypothesis of Incel Harm: A Model of Harmful Attitudes and Beliefs Among Involuntary Celibates
Costello, W., Whittaker, J., & Thomas, A. G. (2025) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10508-025-03161-y · Cited by 46
“Loneliness and sensitivity to rejection were measures using a three-item scale of loneliness (Hughes et al., 2004) and the eight-item version of the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (Downey & Feldman, 1996).”
Reaching out by changing what's within: Social exclusion increases self-concept malleability
Richman, S. B., Slotter, E. B., Gardner, W. L., & DeWall, C. N. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2014.11.008 · Cited by 39
Group-Value Ambiguity
Mendoza‐Denton, R., Goldman‐Flythe, M., Pietrzak, J., Downey, G., & Aceves, M. J. (2010) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550609357796 · Cited by 33
“The RS-personal measure (Downey & Feldman, 1996) assesses anxious expectations of rejection in situations where personal rejection may be relevant, such as asking a classmate out to coffee.”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Perceived Discrimination and Major Depression and Generalized Anxiety Symptoms: In Muslim American College Students
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Trustworthiness appraisal deficits in borderline personality disorder are associated with prefrontal cortex, not amygdala, impairment
Fertuck, E. A., Grinband, J., Mann, J. J., Hirsch, J., Ochsner, K. N., Pilkonis, P. A., Erbe, J. K., & Stanley, B. (2018) · NeuroImage Clinical · doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2018.101616 · Cited by 38
“The Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire was used to assess anxious anticipation and expectation of interpersonal rejection (Downey and Feldman, 1996) (See Table 1 for clinical characteristics).”
Method
Social anxiety and dynamic social reinforcement learning in a volatile environment
Beltzer, M. L., Adams, S., Beling, P. A., & Teachman, B. A. (2019) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702619858425 · Cited by 32
“These include the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (Downey & Feldman, 1996), Behavioral Inhibition Scales/Behavioral Activation Scales (Carver & White, 1994), and Positive and Negative Affect Scale–State (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988).”
Method
The Social Self-Compassion Scale (SSCS): Development, Validity, and Associations with Indices of Well-Being, Distress, and Social Anxiety
Rose, A. L., & Kocovski, N. L. (2020) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-020-00302-3 · Cited by 36
Examining boss phubbing and employee outcomes through the lens of affective events theory
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The social activist: conformity to the ingroup following rejection as a predictor of political participation
Knapton, H., Bäck, H., & Bäck, E. (2014) · Social Influence · doi:10.1080/15534510.2014.966856 · Cited by 41
“Rejection sensitivity (RS) is a disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to, rejection, explaining why some individuals are more vulnerable to rejection than others (Berenson et al., 2009; Downey & Feldman, 1996; Downey, Khouri, & Feldman, 1997).”
BackgroundMethod

Authors: Downey, G., & Feldman, S. I.
Affiliations: Columbia University (US)
ORCID: Downey, Geraldine
Venue: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 1996
Volume: 70
Issue: 6
Pages: 1327-1343
ISSN: 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
1939-1315
DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.70.6.1327
OpenAlex: W4241492439
Cited by: 2,110
References: 0
Citations by year: 2026: 135 · 2025: 115 · 2024: 104 · 2023: 139 · 2022: 118 · 2021: 108 · 2020: 144 · 2019: 84 · 2018: 94 · 2017: 107 · 2016: 98 · 2015: 98 · 2014: 104 · 2013: 93 · 2012: 76
FWCI: 16.75
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders: National Institutes of Health (1r29mh051113-01)
National Institute of Mental Health (R29-MH51113)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
Keywords: rejection sensitivity, intimate relationships, interpersonal rejection, romantic relationships
MeSH terms: Adolescent, Adult, Female, Gender Identity, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Personality Assessment, Psychometrics, Rejection, Psychology, Social Perception, Social Support

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Implications of rejection sensitivity for intimate relationships

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