Search
- Page Path
- HOME > Search
- The Relationship between Rejection Sensitivity and Loneliness: Double Mediation Effects of Self-Acceptance and Self-Silencing
- Ayeong Jeong, Boyoung Kim
- STRESS. 2025;33(4):192-200. Published online December 31, 2025
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.17547/kjsr.2025.33.4.192
- 305 View
- 16 Download
-
Abstract
PDF - Background
This study aimed to provide an integrated explanation of the effects of rejection sensitivity on loneliness. Specifically, this study examined the individual and serial mediating roles of self-acceptance and self-silencing in the relationship between rejection sensitivity and loneliness.
Methods
A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 310 male and female university students (ages 19-26 years) in South Korea. Participants completed measures assessing rejection sensitivity, self-acceptance, self-silencing, and loneliness. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0, and the PROCESS macro was used to test for direct and indirect effects.
Results
Rejection sensitivity had a significant direct effect on loneliness; it was negatively correlated with self-acceptance and positively correlated with self-silencing. Both self-acceptance and self-silencing served as partial mediators in the relationship between rejection sensitivity and loneliness. Critically, the serial mediation model was significant: rejection sensitivity predicted lower self-acceptance, which in turn predicted higher self-silencing, ultimately leading to increased loneliness.
Conclusions
The findings suggest that the influence of rejection sensitivity on loneliness is a complex process partially explained by the sequential roles of diminished self-acceptance and subsequent self-silencing. This study highlights the importance of targeting both self-acceptance and self-silencing in clinical and educational settings to develop effective strategies for reducing loneliness among young adults with high rejection sensitivity.
- Relationships between Self-Criticism, Rejection Sensitivity, Self-Attack, and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury
- Jae Hee Kim, Kyung Hyun Suh
- STRESS. 2021;29(2):122-129. Published online June 30, 2021
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.17547/kjsr.2021.29.2.122
- 6,758 View
- 178 Download
- 1 Citations
-
Abstract
PDF
Background This study aims to investigate the relationships between self-criticism, rejection sensitivity, self-attack, and non-suicidal self-injury among college students, and to verify a path model to predict non-suicidal self-injury.
Methods The participants were 239 male and female college students who had experienced self-injury. The psychological tests used in this study were the Inventory of Statement about Self-Injury, Form of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassurance Scale, and the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire.
Results Results showed that self-criticism, rejection sensitivity, and self-attack were positively correlated with non-suicidal self-injury, and that rejection sensitivity was positively correlated with self-criticism and self-attack. A model was adopted that includes a direct path from self-criticism to non-suicidal self-injury, while self-criticism and rejection sensitivity affect non-suicidal self-injury indirectly through self-attack.
Conclusions It was found that rejection sensitivity indirectly affects non-suicidal self-injury through self-attack, and self-criticism directly affects non-suicidal self-injury and indirectly affects non-suicidal self-injury through self-attack.
-
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
- How Is Rejection Sensitivity Linked to Non-Suicidal Self-Injury? Exploring Social Anxiety and Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy as Explanatory Processes in a Longitudinal Study of Chinese Adolescents
Junyan Zhao, Anna Li, Kunlin Li, Fengqing Zhao
Behavioral Sciences.2024; 14(10): 943. CrossRef
- How Is Rejection Sensitivity Linked to Non-Suicidal Self-Injury? Exploring Social Anxiety and Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy as Explanatory Processes in a Longitudinal Study of Chinese Adolescents
First
Prev
