Rejection And Aggression Essay

Introduction

When a teenage girl was fatally stabbed by the 16 year-old boy whose prom invitation she had turned down, there was speculation about the role of rejection as a triggering factor (e.g. (Associated Press, 2014). This is not the first time the media has assumed a link between social rejection and violence. Between 1995 and 2001, news reports from 15 school shootings mentioned rejection as an important factor leading up to the violence: in at least 12 cases, the perpetrator(s) were described as individuals who had experienced malicious teasing or bullying, and several of the victims had reportedly teased, bullied or rejected the shooter (Leary, Kowalski, Smith, & Phillips, 2003). However, scientific explanations for this relationship between rejection and violence, or rejection and aggression more broadly, remain scarce.

Adolescence is a time of increased aggressive behavior. In a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9-12, almost a third reported being in a physical fight in the 12 months preceding the survey, 20.1% reported being bullied on school property, and 16.2% reported experiencing electronic bullying (e.g. through e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, websites, or texting) (Eaton et al., 2012). Additionally, a number of longitudinal studies indicate that aggression tends to peak in adolescence and young adulthood (e.g. (Loeber & Hay, 1997; Nagin & Tremblay, 1999; Sampson & Laub, 2003), although developmental trajectories of aggression remain a subject of scientific debate. Conflicting longitudinal findings suggest a more complex picture.

To begin clarifying the heightened tendency to behave aggressively and the potential pathways that facilitate adolescent aggression, the present review w...

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...aviors such as hitting, pushing, or threatening to beat up another individual (e.g., a peer) (Prinstein, Boergers, & Vernberg, 2001). In contrast, relational aggression occurs when the threat or damage is not physical in nature, but affects interpersonal relationships (Bailey & Ostrov, 2008). For example, relational aggression uses an individual's relationship with another peer, or their friendship status, as a way to inflict harm (for example by excluding a peer from social activities). This form of aggression appears to occur at a greater frequency compared to physical aggression (Prinstein et al., 2001). For this reason, it is important to focus empirical attention not only on direct forms of aggression, but also on the more subtle forms that involve damage to relationships and threats to feelings of social connectedness, as well as on the interplay between them.