The Complexities of Attachment, Peer Rejection and Gender Within a Middle School Dynamic - a Glimpse at Early Adolescents and Their Significant Relationships

<p>This was a mixed method two phase explanatory study of attachment, peer rejection and gender in a non-clinical middle school population. The purpose of the study was to illustrate the relationship between these variables with the assumption that there would be differences in attachment style between rejected and non-rejected students and further differences by gender. The Behavioral Systems Questionnaire (BSQ) and the Children's Self-Experience Questionnaire-Self-Report (CSEQ-SR) were utilized to determine interview subjects. A Parent Demographic Form provided background, life experience and social functioning information. There were challenges in the use of both instruments for this study's purposes. Although there were more secure non-rejected students than rejected, there were also insecure students who were non-rejected. Overall there were few students of either gender indicated as rejected by the CSEQ-SR, but parent report indicated more rejected students, especially female. There were insufficient students in each attachment category to make a rejected and gender comparison. However, the study was useful for its detailed description of middle school socialization-its risks and resilience, qualitative validation of gender differences in the incidence of relational aggression, and gender similarities in terms of caring family and community relationship as well as indications of parent-student anxiety within the middle school experience.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social Work

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Mestling, Barbara Ann

• attachment
• bullying
• gender
• mentalization
• peer rejection
• relational aggression
• Social Work

Repository record dc:identifier

https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/261

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.luc.edu:luc_diss-1260