The self-fulfilling prophecy of adolescent social expectations

Abstract

Adolescents’ negative social expectations of their peers were examined as long-term predictors of problematic self-reported social functioning. Early adolescent negative expectations were hypothesized to predict risk-averse functioning in late adolescence that would ultimately contribute to confirmation of those expectations. Utilizing observational data and friend- and self-reports from a community sample of 184 adolescents followed from ages 13 to 25, adolescents with more negative expectations were found to have become increasingly submissive with friends over time and were rated as less romantically appealing by late adolescence (after controlling for baseline levels of these variables, baseline friend-rated social competence and self-reported depressive symptoms). In turn, submissiveness and romantic appeal predicted problematic self-reported social functioning well into adulthood and mediated the relationship between adolescent negative expectations and problematic self-reported adult social functioning. These findings support the possibility of a self-fulfilling social process unfolding from early adolescence to adulthood.

Parent and Peer Predictors of Change in Attachment Security From Adolescence to Adulthood

“…By adolescence, internal models of relationships and patterns of relationship behavior have often become well established and may exist largely outside of conscious awareness (Bowlby, 1980;Fraley, 2002;Loeb, Hessel, & Allen, 2015). Yet, from a developmental perspective, adolescence is also a period of rapidly changing social relationships and rapidly increasing cognitive capacity, both of which may facilitate reworking of an existing attachment organization (Allen & Miga, 2010).…”

The Role of Physical Attractiveness in Adolescent Social Development

“…On the adult version, the 4 item sociability scale was used for the current ults feel at Messer & Harter (1986) demonstrated acceptable internal reliability and validity for this measure. In the current sample, this scale demonstrated good internal reliability ( .66 at age 23); in other studies, it has been linked to negative social expectations of peers in early adolescence, rejection sensitivity, and dominance (Loeb, 2012 (Schad, Mikami, Teachman, Allen, & Chango, 2012).…”

Romantic Relationship Churn in Early Adolescence Predicts Hostility, Abuse, and Avoidance in Relationships Into Early Adulthood

“…Both participants and their respective romantic partners reported perpetrating more abuse and coercion toward each other by age 18. These findings indicate that romantic churning in early adolescence has the potential to explain not just the adolescent’s own future behaviors but also the behavior of those they choose as partners, possibly due to either a selection effect or a self-fulfilling prophecy effect (Loeb, Hessel, & Allen, 2016). In addition, conflictual friendships from 14 to 16 mediated the relationship between romantic churning at 13 and abuse/coercion at age 18.…”