Recent research suggests that having a mutual antipathy, in comparison to not having
an antipathy, is associated with a host of negative outcomes. However, the methods
used may not have adequately controlled for rejection and therefore may have
provided an incomplete description of the psychosocial correlates of having a mutual
antipathy. With a sample of approximately 2000 sixth-grade students, the goal of the
present study was to disentangle the effects of rejection from those of having
mutual antipathies and assess whether or not involvement in a mutual antipathy
reflects maladaptive behaviour for young adolescents. When controlling for
rejection, and including only students who received at least one rejection
nomination, having a mutual antipathy was not necessarily associated with increased
maladjustment. Additionally, when compared to boys and girls with no antipathies,
those involved in at least one same-sex antipathy had different psychosocial
adjustment profiles than those involved in at least one opposite-sex antipathy. The
results indicate the need to carefully choose comparison groups when examining the
correlates of mutual antipathies.
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