College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

Summer 8-24-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Yan Li, PhD

Second Advisor

Verena Graupmann, PhD

Third Advisor

Antonio Polo, PhD

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated the negative impacts of social status insecurity on adolescents’ behavior and mental health. Hence, there is an urgency in exploring mechanisms that may alleviate adolescents’ concerns about their peer status. The present study is the first to 1) use an experimental design to examine the effect of providing feedback on adolescents’ peer status in an attempt to reduce or induce their social status insecurity and 2) investigate how these changes would influence adolescents’ immediate outcomes such as present mood, behavior intentions, and social status goals. Participants were 465 high school students (253 boys; Mage = 16.64, SDage = .99) from a low-income county in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. This study was a 2 (Gender: Boy vs. Girl) x 2 (Status type: Popularity vs. Likability) x 3 (Feedback type: Positive vs. Negative vs. No feedback) quasi-experimental between-subject design. Participants imagined that they received positive feedback (favorable to their expected status), negative feedback (unfavorable to their expected status), or no feedback on their peer status. Contrary to the hypotheses, the results showed that popularity status insecurity slightly increased regardless of the valence of the feedback that participants imagined receiving. This finding suggests that reducing adolescents’ feelings of insecurity about their peer status, especially their popularity status, is challenging. Moreover, feedback on peer status is more likely to influence adolescents’ present mood rather than their subsequent behavior and social status goals. Furthermore, this study revealed some novel relationships between social status insecurity and various individual characteristics. High resilience and self-worth and low social sensitivity are protective factors against adolescents experiencing social status insecurity. These findings illuminate some potential mechanisms behind the development and negative effects of social status insecurity and provide important research and practical implications.

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