Well-Being in Social Interactions: Examining Personality-Situation Dynamics in Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Communication

Abstract

Decades of research show that people’s social lives are linked to their well-being. Yet, research on the relationships between social interactions and well-being has been largely inconclusive with regard to the effects of person-situation interactions, such as the interplay between contextual factors (e.g., interactions occurring in physical vs. digital contexts, different interaction partners) and dispositional tendencies (e.g., Big Five personality traits). Here, we report on exploratory and confirmatory findings from three large studies of college students (Study 1: N = 1,360; Study 2: N = 851; S3: N = 864) who provided a total of 139,363 experience sampling surveys (reporting on 87,976 social interactions). We focus on the effects of different modes of communication (face-to-face [FtF] interactions, computer-mediated communication [CMC], and mixed episodes [FtF + CMC]) and types of interaction partners (close peers, family members, and weak ties). Using multilevel structural equation modeling, we found that FtF interactions and mixed episodes were associated with highest well-being on the within-person level, and that these effects were particularly pronounced for individuals with high levels of neuroticism. CMC was related to lower well-being than FtF interactions, but higher well-being than not socializing at all. Regarding the type of interaction partner, individuals reported higher well-being after interactions with close peers than after interactions with family members and weak ties, and the difference between close peers and weak ties was larger for FtF interactions than for CMC. We discuss these findings with regard to theories of person-situation interactions and research on well-being and social interactions.

Who benefits from which activity? On the relations between personality traits, leisure activities, and well-being.

“…In addition to studies investigating different leisure activities simultaneously, large literatures exist about specific activities. For instance, more frequent social interactions have been associated with higher well-being (e.g., Kroencke et al, 2022; Lucas et al, 2008; Sun et al, 2020). Similarly, physical activity is positively associated with well-being between persons (e.g., Buecker et al, 2021; Kroencke et al, 2019; Wiese et al, 2018).…”

“…Other work has focused on specific leisure activities at the within-person level. For instance, many studies indicate momentary well-being benefits of social interactions (e.g., Kroencke et al, 2022; Sun et al, 2020) and positive effects of social leisure on life satisfaction were also reported at larger timescales (e.g., Becchetti et al, 2012). Physical activity has been related to momentary (Liao et al, 2015), weekly (Kroencke et al, 2019), and biennial fluctuations in well-being (Perales et al, 2014), and similar effects were evident in experimental designs (Buecker et al, 2021).…”

“…Findings on specific interaction effects tend to be more mixed. For instance, well-being benefits from social interactions show relatively few associations with personality traits (Kroencke et al, 2022; Lucas et al, 2008; Sun et al, 2020). Chan et al (2018) reported that the association between physical activity and well-being was stronger for participants high in Extraversion and Openness but unrelated to other Big Five traits.…”

Individual Differences in Contingencies Between Situation Characteristics and Personality States

“…Many areas of inquiry focus on individual differences in contingencies. For instance, research on stress reactivity has examined individual differences in affective reactivity towards stressors (e.g., Hisler et al, 2020;Kaurin et al, 2021;Kroencke et al, 2020;O'Neill et al, 2004); research on motivation has examined individual differences in the associations between need satisfaction and well-being (e.g., Neubauer et al, 2018Neubauer et al, , 2020b; and work on the association between Extraversion and well-being has examined the social reactivity hypothesis (Srivastava et al, 2008;Kroencke et al, 2022). Moreover, research on contingencies has been conducted in various applied areas of psychology.…”

Individual differences in contingencies between situation characteristics and personality states.

“…Many areas of inquiry focus on individual differences in contingencies. For instance, research on stress reactivity has examined individual differences in affective reactivity towards stressors (e.g., Hisler et al, 2020; Kaurin et al, 2021; Kroencke et al, 2020; O’Neill et al, 2004); research on motivation has examined individual differences in the associations between need satisfaction and well-being (e.g., Neubauer et al, 2018; Neubauer, Lerche, et al, 2020); and work on the association between Extraversion and well-being has examined the social reactivity hypothesis (Kroencke et al, 2022; Srivastava et al, 2008). Moreover, research on contingencies has been conducted in various applied areas of psychology.…”