Differences in emotional reactions following ostracism: A comparison between youth with and without personality pathology

Abstract

Background: The sense of belonging is a fundamental human need and is important for establishing social relationships (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). In certain social situations, the need to belong can be threatened by others, a phenomenon known as ostracism. Individuals react differently to these threatening situations. However, not much is known about the differences between youth with and without personality pathology in emotional reactions to ostracism. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the differences in emotional reaction between these two groups. Method: Negative emotional reactions of youth (16–23 years old) diagnosed with personality pathology (n = 34) were compared with youth from a community sample (n = 44). The online game Cyberball was used as a measure for ostracism. A Repeated Measures Mixed-model ANOVA was performed to determine differences in negative affect (NA) between the groups at three measurement points. Results: Youth with personality pathology showed higher levels of NA at baseline than youth from the community sample. Although ostracism was conducted successfully, NA scores did not increase directly after playing Cyberball in both groups. Conclusions: Youth with personality pathology experience significantly more NA already at baseline, whereas they did not demonstrate stronger negative emotional reactions when confronted with ostracism than youth from a community sample.