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A Multiple Method Longitudinal Study of Gifted Adolescents’ Communication of and about Ostracism and Social Exclusion

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2014, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Communication Studies (Communication).
Ostracism is a subtle communicative phenomenon that leaves others feeling ignored, rejected, and left out. Through acts of ostracism, we create the human, alone: the marginalized, stigmatized, and rejected other. Ostracism is a form of social rejection less visible than bullying and harassment, but deeply painful. Ostracism during adolescence can be particularly devastating because of the strong need for group belonging in childhood. Intellectually gifted adolescent might experience additional challenges to peer acceptance due to their advanced intellect and asynchronous development. The current dissertation project takes a social construction perspective to investigate intellectually gifted adolescents’ experiences of ostracism and social exclusion. I invited 45 gifted adolescents, ages 10-18, to keep an electronic journal for at least a month about their experiences as targets, sources, and observers of ostracism. I used the theoretical frameworks of coordinated management of meaning and problematic integration theory to provide scaffolding for a model of ostracism. In Chapter Three, I discuss the dual privileged and marginalized status of my participants. In Chapter Four, I discuss six social objectives of ostracism: ostracism is used to defer dealing with difference, (re)produces power, punish others for transgressions, define our groups, protect us from harm, and avoid awkward interactions. In chapter Five, I describe ostracism processes. Micro-level processes include passive, active, and aggressive ostracism acts –utterances at one moment in time that communicate exile. Meso-level processes involve ostracism practices –patterns of interaction resulting in ostracism. These include total ostracism practices where the target of ostracism is completely ignored, partial ostracism with additional rejection (POR) practices where the target sometimes is ignored and sometimes bullied, and partial ostracism with inclusion (POI) practices where the target sometimes is ignored and sometimes included. Macro-level processes include ostracism episodes –habituated ostracism routines. These fall on a continuum from ritualistic ostracism episodes –well-known and rehearsed routines, to enigmatic ostracism episodes –improvised and ambiguous routines. In Chapter Six, I discuss participants’ coping strategies for surviving ostracism, including cognitive and behavioral responses, acceptance and resistance responses, and anti-social and pro-social responses. Additionally, I describe the transformative potential ostracism held for some participants as it helped them to find motivation, gain deeper insights, recognize alternate possibilities, find radical freedom, and accept themselves. Finally, in Chapter Seven, I discuss the study’s impact on participants and implications of findings.
Austin Babrow (Committee Chair)
William Rawlins (Committee Member)
Laura Black (Committee Member)
Jaylynne Hutchinson (Committee Member)
412 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Striley, C. M. (2014). A Multiple Method Longitudinal Study of Gifted Adolescents’ Communication of and about Ostracism and Social Exclusion [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1417725012

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Striley, Catherine. A Multiple Method Longitudinal Study of Gifted Adolescents’ Communication of and about Ostracism and Social Exclusion. 2014. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1417725012.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Striley, Catherine. "A Multiple Method Longitudinal Study of Gifted Adolescents’ Communication of and about Ostracism and Social Exclusion." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1417725012

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)