The relationship between rejection sensitivity and social withdrawal in emerging adults

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increase in the number of young people who have difficulties integrating into society and therefore choose to withdraw from social interactions as a means of protecting themselves from emotional harm. The present study examined the prevalence of social withdrawal, rejection sensitivity, and the association between these two variables. The study was conducted on a sample of 688 participants aged between 18 and 30, using a questionnaire-based survey method. Results showed that among all subtypes of social withdrawal, shyness was the most commonly reported (13.4% of the whole sample), while the unsociability subtype had the highest mean score. The data also revealed that people who were moderately to highly sensitive to rejection accounted for half of the participants. In particular, there was a positive correlation between rejection sensitivity and the shyness subtype of social withdrawal. The meaning of the results, together with the limitations of the study, was discussed to provide implications for future studies.