Experience of Being Spurned: Coping Style, Stress Preparation, and Depersonalization in Beginning Kindergarten Teachers

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to examine whether recurrent rejection of offers of help by peer teachers would induce depersonalization in kindergarten teachers. Another objective was to examine whether a predominantly problem-focused coping style would be more effective than a predominantly emotion-focused coping style in reducing the negative impact of being spurned. The third objective was to assess whether preparedness for rejection could prevent the experience of being spurned. New kindergarten teachers in the city of Macau, China, responded, at three points in time, to questionnaires addressing the variables of interest: before the school term, six months into their work, and another four months later. As hypothesized, being spurned produced depersonalization, with such effects being reduced more by a predominantly problem-focused coping style than by a predominantly emotion-focused style. The effects of stress preparation also were obtained.