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Who Are the Children Most Vulnerable to Social Exclusion? The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem, Popularity, and Nonverbal Intelligence on Cognitive Performance Following Social Exclusion

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Abstract

Social exclusion has a profound emotional impact on children. However, there is still limited and partly conflicting experimental evidence for the possible effect of social exclusion on children’s cognitive performance. In the present study, we tested the possibility that some children are more vulnerable than others to the negative effects of social exclusion on cognitive performance. We selected 4 potential candidates that could moderate the effects of social exclusion: relational self-esteem, peer ratings of popularity, rejection sensitivity and nonverbal intelligence. Individual differences in these 4 potential moderating factors were first assessed in a sample of 318 children (45.6 % females; mean age = 9.92 years). Then, in a subsequent experimental session, the participants were either socially included or excluded using a typical manipulation (i.e., the Cyberball paradigm). Following the manipulation, the children’s cognitive performance was assessed using a logical reasoning test. The results showed that the children with lower scores for relational self-esteem (the bottom 37.46 % of the sample), lower popularity (43.49 %) or weaker nonverbal intelligence (37.80 %) performed worse on the logical reasoning test following social exclusion. Moreover, children with combined low self-esteem, popularity and nonverbal intelligence were the most affected by social exclusion. This study identified factors that make some children more vulnerable to the negative effects of social exclusion. Overall, the present work underscores the value of considering basic cognitive and relational individual differences when developing interventions aimed at preventing the negative effects of social exclusion among children.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Paola Mazza, Greta Nicolini and Stella Segala for data collection, and to the schools and children who took part in this study.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126, Milan, Italy

    Valentina Tobia, Paolo Riva & Claudia Caprin

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  1. Valentina Tobia
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  2. Paolo Riva
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  3. Claudia Caprin
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Correspondence to Valentina Tobia.

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The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee, that approved the study’s paradigm, and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed written consent was obtained from all parents of the participants included in the study; verbal assent was obtained from the participants themselves.

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Tobia, V., Riva, P. & Caprin, C. Who Are the Children Most Vulnerable to Social Exclusion? The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem, Popularity, and Nonverbal Intelligence on Cognitive Performance Following Social Exclusion. J Abnorm Child Psychol 45, 789–801 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-016-0191-3

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