Influence of Social Exclusion on the Inferiority Feeling of Community Youth

Background: Inferiority feeling leads to the negative reactions such as depression and anxiety among community youth, social exclusion also forms their negative emotions due to the alienation of social relations. We aimed to explore the effect of social exclusion on the inferiority feeling of community youth.

Methods: In December 2021, a total of 681 community youth from Wuhan in China were selected as the research object. They were evaluated using a social exclusion scale, inferiority scale, and rumination scale, respectively. The mediating effect of rumination on the relationship between social exclusion and inferiority of community youth was tested by using structural equation model and bootstrap test.

Results: The scores of social exclusion, inferiority complex, and rumination were positively correlated (P<0.05). The mediation effect test showed that the mediation hypothesis model had a relatively good fitting index. Social exclusion was a positive predictor of rumination, and rumination was a positive predictor of inferiority. Ruminant thinking had a significant partial mediating effect in the relationship between social exclusion and inferiority feeling, the indirect effect was 0.078, the direct effect was 0.04, the total effect was 0.118, and the ratio of direct effect to indirect effect was approximately 1:2. Therefore, social exclusion exerted the influence on inferiority through rumination.

Conclusion: Social exclusion positively affects the inferiority feeling of community youth through the mediating effect of rumination thinking. The health prevention of community youth's inferiority feeling should not only prevent the negative impact of social exclusion but also strengthen the cultivation of rumination thinking.