AI Insight
This study of 1,166 Chinese college students found that social exclusion leads to interpersonal alienation through two main pathways: behavioral avoidance and inhibited self-disclosure. The research identified that socially excluded students tend to avoid social situations, which then reduces their willingness to share personal information, ultimately resulting in feelings of interpersonal alienation. The model explained 45.4% of the variance in interpersonal alienation, with both behavioral and cognitive pathways contributing approximately equally.
Why it matters
These findings suggest that interventions for socially excluded college students should address both their avoidance behaviors and their reluctance to self-disclose. Understanding this sequential mechanism provides specific targets for mental health professionals working with students experiencing interpersonal difficulties related to social exclusion.
BackgroundSocial exclusion—being ignored, rejected, or excluded in social interactions—is a prevalent interpersonal stressor among college students, yet the specific mechanisms linking exclusion to long-term interpersonal difficulties remain poorly understood.ObjectiveThis study tested a serial mediation model examining whether social avoidance and self-disclosure inhibition sequentially mediate the association between social exclusion and interpersonal alienation among Chinese college students.MethodsA total of 1,166 Chinese college students (64.67% female; M = 20.12, SD = 1.29) completed measures of social exclusion, social avoidance, self-disclosure, and interpersonal alienation. Serial mediation analysis using PROCESS Model 6 with bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals (5,000 resamples) was conducted.ResultsThe model explained 45.4% of the variance in interpersonal alienation. Social exclusion was significantly associated with interpersonal alienation (β = 0.571, p < 0.001). Three significant indirect pathways were identified: a behavioral pathway through social avoidance, a cognitive pathway through self-disclosure inhibition, and a serial pathway from social avoidance to self-disclosure inhibition. The behavioral and cognitive pathways contributed approximately equally, while the serial pathway contributed a smaller but significant portion. Results remained robust after controlling for gender and academic level.ConclusionsThe findings support a sequential pattern in which social exclusion is associated with behavioral avoidance, which is linked to reduced self-disclosure and greater interpersonal alienation. This pattern suggests that interventions targeting both behavioral avoidance and self-disclosure inhibition may help address exclusion-related interpersonal difficulties among college students.