Invited Reflection: Rejection Sensitivity as a Social-Cognitive Model of Minority Stress
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COMMENTARY
Invited Reflection: Rejection Sensitivity as a Social‑Cognitive Model of Minority Stress Bonita London1 · Jamie Macdonald1 · Elizabeth Inman1 Received: 23 December 2019 / Revised: 2 March 2020 / Accepted: 3 March 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
How might understanding the mechanisms by which minority stress impacts the mental health and well-being, social relationships, and achievement of sexual minority individuals lead to advances in treatment, policies, and basic knowledge? This fundamental question is at the heart of Feinstein’s (2019) Target Article, in which he advances the minority stress literature by highlighting research on rejection sensitivity (RS) as a new theoretical framework that complements existing theories of minority stress. As highlighted by Feinstein, the RS literature offers a novel approach to understanding the antecedents of minority stress, the socialcognitive mechanisms by which exposure to minority stress undermines health, well-being, and relationships, and the behavioral coping strategies used to navigate anticipated or actual stress. The RS theory and research complements existing models of minority stress and introduces a unique set of mechanisms to the minority stress literature by highlighting the contributions of anticipatory affect, expectations of rejection, perceptions of threat, and coping. Feinstein connects these core RS constructs with two existing theories— minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003) and psychological mediation theory (Hatzenbuehler, 2009).
Overview of the Interpersonal Rejection Sensitivity Model The RS model, proposed by Downey and Feldman (1996) as a “cognitive–affective processing disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to rejection” (Feinstein, 2019), has its roots in developmental theories of This Commentary refers to the article available at https://doi. org/10.1007/s10508-019-1428-3. * Bonita London [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794‑2500, USA
attachment (e.g., Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Shaver & Hazan, 1987) and attribution models of coping (Dodge, 1980; Dodge et al., 2003). Downey and Feldman drew on attachment theory to posit that past experiences of rejection, exclusion, and maltreatment, often within the context of early parent–child relationships, become a working model for future acceptance and rejection concerns (e.g., Downey, Khouri, & Feldman, 1997). Consistent with attachment theories, research demonstrated that rejection begets rejection sensitivity, with high RS college-aged adults recalling greater experiences of neglect, rejection, and conditional love during their formative years compared to those lower in RS, and prospective studies of rejected children developing greater rejection sensitivity over time (Downey, Freitas, Michaelis, & Khouri, 1998; Downey et al., 1997; Feldman & Downey, 1994). In the context of prospective studies, rejected children are determined by
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