Independent and interdependent personalities at individual and group levels: Predicting loneliness in Chinese adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of independent and interdependent personalities at both individual and peer-group levels to loneliness in Chinese adolescents. Participants included 651 junior high school students (Mage = 11.48, SDage = 0.62; 263 girls). The participants were administered self-report measures of personality and loneliness and a Social-Cognitive Map assessment of peer groups in Grade 6. Data on loneliness were collected again in Grades 7 and 8. Latent growth model analyses indicated that loneliness increased over time. Multilevel regression analyses indicated that, at an individual level, independent personality factors (i.e., Social Potency and Emotional Stability) and the interdependent factor (Interpersonal Relatedness; IR) negatively predicted the initial level of loneliness and positively predicted the slope of loneliness. At the group level, Social Potency and IR negatively predicted the initial level of loneliness, and IR positively predicted the slope of loneliness. The study provides valuable information about the contributions of independent and interdependent personalities at both individual and group levels to psychological adjustment in the Chinese context. The implications of the findings concerning the associations between personality and loneliness are discussed.