The Relationship between Neural Responses to Rejection and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Romantic Relationships: a Dual EEG Acquisition Study

The research question this thesis aims to answer is whether depressive symptoms of adolescents involved in romantic relationships are related to their rejection sensitivity. It was hypothesized that adolescents who have more rejection sensitivity, indicated by a bigger P3b response, will have more depressive symptoms. This hypothesis was tested by having adolescent couples attend a lab session in which they played a Social Rejection Task while EEG data was being collected. Rejection sensitivity was measured using the activity of the P3b ERP at the Pz electrode.