No matter which way you look at it, rejection hurts.
Experiencing rejection from a boss, a friend, or a partner is difficult enough
for many adults to handle. But adolescents, who are dealing with the one-two
punch of biological and social change, may be the most vulnerable to its
negative effects.
In a new study published in Clinical Psychological Science,
a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, researcher Michael
Murphy of the University of British Columbia and colleagues examine the human
immune response as a potential link between social stressors like rejection and
later mental and physical health outcomes.
There are many kinds of stressors that increase our risk for
disease, but stressors that threaten our social standing, such as targeted
rejection, seem to be particularly harmful.