The social side of personality: Do affiliation and intimacy motives moderate associations of personal relationships with well-being?

BACKGROUND

The quantity of social relationships and social interactions is positively related to well-being, but the underlying role of personality dispositions in these associations is unclear. The present study investigated whether social motives for affiliation and intimacy moderate associations of personal networks with well-being.

METHOD: We analyzed data from N = 389 individuals living alone (aged 35-60 years) who provided self-reports of social motives and well-being, and who completed an ego-centered social network task. A subsample of N = 331 individuals participated in a social network diary with daily questions about social interactions within their personal networks.

RESULTS

Overall, we found little support for moderations. Individuals higher in affiliation felt less lonely than individuals lower in affiliation when having more frequent in-person contact. Multilevel analyses of the diary data revealed that highly affiliative individuals reported being more satisfied than individuals lower in affiliation when having more daily social interactions than usual. No moderations were found in the context of intimacy.

DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that, especially in the context of daily social encounters, affiliation might moderate associations of social interaction quantity with well-being. Implications for future research on personality-relationship dynamics in personal networks and daily social interactions are discussed.