The Relationships Between Personality, Perceived Social Support, and Structure of Friend Groups

Friendship formation has been studied by many psychologists, focusing predominately on connectedness within the friendship and less focused on variation of characteristics within the group that influence group dynamic (Laakasu et. al., 2016). Personality traits are a large contributing factor when determining relationship satisfaction, specifically Neuroticism and Extraversion. Having high Neuroticism has shown to be a consistent predictor of low relationship quality (Finn, Mite, & Neyer, 2013). On the contrary, Extraversion’s positive affect (i.e. characterized as being cheerful, energetic, and social) is associated with better relationship outcomes (Lyubomirsky, King, & Deiner, 2005). Undergraduate students (N = 50) completed a survey containing a personality assessment, perceived social support questionnaire, friendship structure questionnaire, and demographics on Qualtrics. We anticipate participants who score higher on neuroticism will report less perceived social support and feeling less at the center of the friend group. Participants who score higher on extraversion will perceive social support positively and will report feeling at the center of the friend group. Assessing the perceived social support and structure of a friend group from an individual allows us to better understand that individual’s associated personality traits