Vulnerability cognitive appraisal and coping based on rejection in romantic relationships

The main purpose of this study is to define the causal relationships among rejection sensitivity, vulnerability, cognitive appraisal and coping styles with depression. In this study as statistics methods, correlational and causal-comparative research design was employed. Accordance with this study's purpose 400 (200 females; 200 males) students are randomly recruited from KTU Fatih Faculty of Education's various departments. Main instruments are Information Gathering Form (IGF), Rejection Sensitivity Measure (RSM), Vulnerability Scale (VS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Cognitive Appraisal Scale (CAS) and Coping Questionaire (CQ). For data analyses SPSS for WINDOWS 11.5 and LISREL 8.54 programmes were used. The group differencess were tested by t-test and F, correlational statistics was also employed to search for the relationships among all variables and to define the causal relations Path analysis was also employed with a major application of structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings showed t hat the relationships among rejection sensitivity, vulnerability, cognitive appraisal, coping styles, depression and demographic variables of the university students. Findings also showed that the cognitive appraisal was mediative variable between rejection and coping related to rejection in romantic relations. In addition, findings revealed that individuals with high rejection sensitivity used emotion-focused coping in romantic relations; individuals with low rejection sensitivity used problem-focused coping in romantic relations. Female partners used threat appraisal related to rejection in romantic relations; male partners used challenge appraisal related to rejection in romantic relations. The results are discussed in the light of previous findings and in the context of interpersonal relations and depression, conducting future research for implications as well. DC